Bhubaneswar: The Odisha chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, has sought Central assistance to fight against the Covid Second Wave.
In the meeting taken up by prime minister with State chief ministers on Thursday, Patnaik said that the Union government should allow the States, under SDRF guidelines, to spend up to 50% of the annual allocation for Covid-related activities during 2021-22 too.
“During 2020-21, Odisha had requested for Rs 400 crores under Emergency Covid Response Plan (ECRP), but we received only Rs 146 crores. In view of the new wave of Covid, it is requested that at least Rs 300 crores be released to Odisha for 2021-22 for Covid Management.”
Odisha has been doing well in vaccination program with among the lowest wastage in the country and efficient system of administering the vaccine to eligible persons, he said adding, ” 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”, Patnaik said and requested the Centre that at least 10 days stock of the vaccines is ensured for Odisha.
The chief minister said, “We have reactivated our system to tackle the new rise in the Covid cases especially in districts bordering some states with high incidence of the virus.”
