NEW DELHI: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today reviewed the procurement of COVID related material to be purchased out of Rs 2.5 crore MP Fund allocated by him for the purpose, for his Lok Sabha constituency of Udhampur-Kathua-Doda.
In a comprehensive meeting with the District Development Commissioners of all the six districts of Udhampur, Kathua, Doda, Reasi, Ramban and Kishtwar falling in the constituency, Dr Jitendra Singh took an update of the items and the amount for which the procurement/purchase is being sought for COVID related facilities in these districts as well as in the two Blocks of Samba District falling in this constituency. At the meeting, each of the District Development Commissioners gave a detail of the different items and the amount for which they had sent the request for procurement to the office of Jammu & Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation Limited (JKMSCL), with the cognisance of District Development Commissioner Kathua who happens to be the Nodal Authority for this constituency.
The Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of each of these Districts, who were also present at the meeting, gave their inputs and Dr Jitendra Singh directed them to be very prompt and discreet in listing out the items sought by them because the entire process of purchase, procurement and utilisation has to be accomplished at the earliest, considering the urgency of ongoing COVID pandemic.
Dr Jitendra Singh directed Deputy Commissioner Kathua, the Nodal Authority, to obtain a daily report from all the six districts about the status of COVID management and the status of procurement through the MP-Lad Fund allocated by him and submit the report to his office as well. He also told the District Development Commissioners and Chief Medical Officers of each of the districts to follow up the process of purchase with the office of JKMSCL and in case of any hitch, they should immediately report back.
The District Development Commissioners and the Chief Medical Officers, while acknowledging the MP Fund support offered to them by Dr Jitendra Singh, assured him that each one of them have already submitted the list of items to be purchased and they will also follow it up. The District Development Commissioners also said that they will place in public domain the amount from the allocated MP Fund for which they are seeking purchases and in this context, Deputy Commissioners of Ramban, Doda and Udhampur informed that he have started sharing the details about this on their respective Twitter handles.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that, with the list of items to be purchased having been given to the concerned authorities and the Kathua based nodal agency having given its endorsement, there should now be no room for anybody to say that the MP Fund was allocated for COVID related material but it was not further processed. He said, the onus now lies on the procurement authorities of the Union Territory Government to make the purchased material available as early as possible and his office is also constantly following it up.
The Minister expressed satisfaction that most of the COVID Care Centres at Panchayat Levels of the constituency have been set up, made functional in real-time which is a positive development and stressed that the representatives at every level should be communicative with the public so that the message is disseminated to the nook and corner at every level.
The Minister said, it was a matter of relief that the positivity rate of the COVID-19 cases along with the mortality rate is on decline in the region.
During the meeting, Dr Jitendra Singh was informed that orders worth Rs 2.1 crore have already been placed out of MP Fund for the procurement of COVID-19 related material and the delivery of the material will be expedited without any delay. The Minister emphasized on the DCs and CMOs to expedite the remaining procurement process at the earliest without any delay so that the public may not suffer for the lack of Covid19 related material.
Besides Chief Medical Officers of Udhampur, Kathua, Doda, Reasi, Ramban and Kishtawar, DC Udhampur Indu Kanwal Chib, DC Kathua Rahul Yadav, DC Doda Vikas Sharma, DC Reasi Charandeep Singh, DC Ramban Musarat-ul-Islam and DC Kishtawar Ashok Sharma were present in the meeting.
