Raj govt runs special buses to immerse ashes in UP, Uttarakhand

Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said special buses will be run to enable people to immerse the ashes of their family members who lost their lives during the lockdown period triggered due to coronavirus crisis.

He asked officials to hold talks with the Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh governments to agree on the operation of buses.

Gehlot was reviewing the coronavirus situation and quarantine arrangements with the core group at his residence.

He said it is extremely unfortunate and painful that the grieving families could not go to immerse the ashes after the death of their family member due to the lockdown. The state government is aware of this situation. Keeping this aspect in mind, it has been decided to run these special buses, he added.

The chief minister said there should be no negligence in mandatory quarantine of migrants coming from other states.

He said senior officials at the district level should constantly monitor institutional and home quarantine arrangements.

In the institutional quarantine, it should be ensured that all basic facilities including food, water are provided.

Additional Chief Secretary Veenu Gupta, Chairman of the State Level Quarantine Management Committee, said more than 10,000 centers have been arranged for better quarantine facilities in the state.

About 7.18 lakh people are in quarantine in the state at present.

She said of the total, 34,000 are in institutional quarantine and the rest in home quarantine.

Principal Secretary (Information Technology) Abhay Kumar said about 6 lakh people have completed the quarantine period.

Director General of Police Bhupendra Singh said continuous action is being implemented against those violating the quarantine and lockdown.

Medical Minister Raghu Sharma, Chief Secretary D B Gupta and other senior officials were also present in the meeting.