Rising corona cases keep Indore in focus

Madhya Pradesh reported 169 corona positive cases on Friday taking the tally to 4,593 while Indore remained on top with 61 new cases. The death toll in Indore reached 98 with two deaths reported overnight on Friday.

Bhopal 26, Ujjain 10, Jabalpur 11, Burhanpur 27 were the other hotspots for new cases on Friday.

The state government is focused on Indore which has reported 2,299 positive cases so far and figures among the top ten districts in the country. Now more than 12 officials have been asked by the Prime Minister's office to monitor the city and the district.

As the transit point for the migrant labourers travelling from the western states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, the region remains vulnerable for the spread of the virus.

Principal secretary industries, Sanjay Shukla and additional chief secretary in charge of health and family welfare department Mohd Suleiman have been asked to closely watch the developments in the region and arrange for all that is needed to bring the situation under control.

Adverse publicity over the plight of migrant labourers has alarmed the centre. Thousands of poor families of unskilled labourers who have been rendered jobless are the key concern of all departments.

The food and civil supplies department is charting out plans to provide food to these families. BJP national president J P Nadda has led many party workers to spread out in the rural areas and the Union agriculture minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, is backing up the effort.

The state government is simultaneously making efforts to restart industries to get the labour force to start earning.

The state government has started - 200 units in Indore and 387 in the rural areas and plans are afoot to restart the entire Pithampur industrial area to engage about 50,000 workers. The government will allow 1000 buses to transport these workers while the banks will restart operations.

The state government is planning a special package for farmers in the region and has set up procurement centres to help them.

Indore member of Lok Sabha Shankarlal Lalwani has arranged for Rs 10 lakh from his local area development funds to purchase PPE kits and medicines.