GUWAHATI: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said that lockdown is nothing but a temporary solution against something that the country and the state have to face against in the long run. In the wake of rising Covid-19 positive cases in the state, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma along with his Cabinet colleagues convened a meeting with all the MLAs from East Khasi Hills District in Shillong on Friday, to discuss and solicit views from the public representatives towards the Government’s long term Covid management strategy. Chairing the meeting the Chief Minister said that the Covid situation is becoming complicated and urgent collective action was needed in the seemingly long battle ahead against the virus. ‘When it comes to Covid-19 we all need to work as a team. The public representatives, officials, local leaders, Rangbah Shnong, Nokmas and citizens all have to come together to ensure that we minimise the growth and spread of Covid-19’, he said while stating that lockdown is nothing but a temporary solution against something that the country and the state have to face against in the long run. The meeting discussed and deliberated at length the different strategies and approaches that the Government could adopt to reduce the impact of Covid-19 and better tackle the rising Covid positive case, by exploring different options such as increasing the number of beds in corona care centres, designating community corona care centres in consultation with community and local leaders and also home quarantine strategies wherever feasible. The meeting also decided that committees be constituted at the constituency level headed by the local MLAs for better coordination between the different covid management committees, the district administration, the different blocks and the various departments.
The Chief Minister also said that in line with the meeting convened similar exercises will also be conducted in other districts of the state wherein senior Cabinet Ministers will be holding consultative meetings with different public representatives.