Chandigarh, April 13 - Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal today spoke to various voluntary organizations across the state through video conferencing and congratulated them for the efforts made by them in preventing the spread of corona virus.

The members of these organizations praised the steps taken by the Chief Minister and the administrative officers in the public interest and asked them to cooperate with the state government in a similar manner in future also.

The Chief Minister also appealed to all the organizations to contribute as much as possible to the 'Chief Minister Corona Relief Fund'. The Chief Minister told the representatives of the NGOs that the administration and the institutions should emphasize on the distribution of dry-ration packets instead of cooked food, except for the safe-camps. Elaborating on it, he said that the cooked food is easily perishable, whereas dry-ration has a longer shelf life.

He told the voluntary organizations to involve the local committees while distributing rations or food packets to the poor and needy people during the lockdown due to the pandemic so that the food reaches the last house in the area.

He said that several safe camps have been set up in the state, in which about thousands of people are staying. He asked the office bearers of the institutions to give psychological support to the labourers living in the safe-camps specially built for them. He further said that the labourers are longing to go to their native place, the voluntary organization should convince them that it was not advisable to travel presently in view of the corona virus. He suggested that these labourers can work in the fields during crop harvesting while maintaining social-distancing.

During the video conferencing the NGOs were informed that three portals have been created to help people in the crisis of corona pandemic which can be used by voluntary organizations and district administration across the state.

Among these, the first portal is trackpds.edisha.gov.in. It can be used to check whether the ration being provided by the district administration or voluntary organizations through the Public Distribution System (PDS) reached the person concerned. It will also be possible to know when and how much ration the person took through Aadhar card or mobile.

The second portal poorpreg.haryana.gov.in, will be beneficial in checking if a person is eligible for financial assistance and whether the financial assistance has been given or not.

The third portal covidunit.edisha.gov.in, where the local committee will enter details of family, including the details of those requiring ration assistance.