Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday urged the Centre to ensure at least 10 days stock of vaccines and Rs 300 crore for Covid management.
Naveen has raised the demands at the meeting taken up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with all chief ministers through virtual mode.
Odisha has been doing well in vaccination programme with among the lowest wastage in the country and efficient system of administering the vaccine to eligible persons, he said.
“We have not been able to ramp up the vaccination due to supply issues. We are currently able to vaccinate 2.5 lakh persons per day and have capability to increase further.
We request that at least 10 days stock of the vaccines is ensured for Odisha,” the Chief Minister said. During 2020-21, Odisha had requested for Rs 400 crore under Emergency Covid Response Plan (ECRP), but it has received only Rs 146 crore.
In view of the new wave of Covid, Patnaik has urged the Prime Minister to allocate at least Rs 300 crore to Odisha for 2021- 22 for Covid Management.
He thanked the Union government for allowing the states, under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) guidelines, to spend up to 50 per cent of the annual allocation for Covid-related activities during 2020-21.
The same guidelines may be continued for the year 2021-22 as well, he suggested.
Speaking about steps taken by the state government on Covid management, he said, “We have reactivated our system to tackle the new rise in Covid cases especially in districts bordering some states with high incidence of the virus.
The entire country has to put up a united front against this pandemic and the state government will continue to provide support in this fight, he added.
PNN
