Farmers Movement Archive

JJP reaches out to villages in Haryana for shot in the arm

Foot soldiers of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), the coalition partner of the BJP, will fan out in villages to buttress the Haryana government’s battle against Covid-19 that has sent alarm bells ringing in the hinterland. Deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala on Monday held three meetings with state and national executive members of the JJP followed by another round of talks with district presidents and legislators to discuss ways to allay misconceptions of villagers about Covid-19 testing and vaccination. Also read: Allow more pharma companies to manufacture Covid vaccine: Delhi CM to CentreJJP sources said Chautala enquired from participants if they had taken the vaccine. “Much to his surprise, the response was not encouraging,” a JJP leader said, requesting anonymity. The elderly JJP executive members, who had not taken the vaccine on one pretext or the other, were asked to get inoculated on Tuesday itself before heading to the villages to spread awareness. “Younger members were assigned the duty of accompanying their older counterparts to vaccination centres,” the leader said. It was on the basis of this feedback from the national and state executives of the JJP that Chautala decided to position party leaders in villages to help the already hard-pressed administration. JJP outreach in Hisar, Sirsa, Bhiwani, Jind Each office-bearer was asked to adopt a village and generate awareness among residents. The JJP workers will distribute masks and hand sanitisers besides urging people to get tested and vaccinated. Initially, the focus of the JJP outreach will be in Hisar, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Jind districts. Another key task will be to discontinue the practice of groups of men sharing hookah in the villages. The JJP’s move to adopt villages is being seen as an attempt to reach out to Jat-dominated areas and make inroads into villages where JJP leaders, including the deputy CM, are unable to enter due to the boycott call of farmers protesting against the BJP-led Centre’s farm laws. Funds for isolation wards in villages JJP sources say another key outcome of the party’s executive committee meeting was the decision of the state government to release funds for setting up isolation wards in villages. The deputy CM met panchayat department officials and decided on another major step to curb the Covid spread that is growing exponentially in the rural areas. The state government will release funds up to ₹50,000 to all gram panchayats of the state to set up isolation wards with 10 beds, pulse oximeters, steam machines, thermometers and blood pressure monitoring machines. A five-member committee, comprising an auxiliary nurse, nambardar, gram sachiv and two public representatives will run these isolation wards in community centres, chaupals, government schools and anganwadi centres of the villages. The government will allocate ₹30,000 to all villages with a population of less than 10,000 and villages with more than 10,000 residents will get ₹50,000. The government has sent 8,000 teams to villages to increase Covid testing.

Hindustan Times

11-05-2021

Chandigarh