After the appeal by Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Executive Committee of the IAS Association and senior officers of Punjab Police on Friday decided to urge all officers in their cadres to voluntarily contribute 30 per cent of their salary for the next three months to the CM Covid Relief Fund.
The Chief Secretary had on Thursday appealed to all Group A & B employees to contribute 30% of their salary for the next 3 months in the light of the current crisis.
At a meeting, senior IPS officers recognised the hard work being done by the Police officers of various ranks working in different districts of the State, at great risk to their lives, both from coronavirus and also from criminal and anti-social elements. They also appreciated the whole-hearted commitment of the Police rank and file to combat the challenge, especially the field officers, who are working on the frontlines of the fight against Covid-19, even at great personal cost.
The officers decided that, given the urgent need to support the poor people suffering extreme hardships in this scenario, an appeal should be made to all officers to contribute 30% of their salary for the next three months to the Punjab CM Relief Fund-Covid 19, said DGP Dinkar Gupta.
The EC of the IAS officers, at a separate meeting, expressed similar sentiments and hoped that all IAS officers would set a strong example for other State Government officials to emulate. ACS Vini Mahajan said the officers were unanimous in the view that it was necessary to extend all possible support to the needy in this hour of crisis.
PUNJAB GOVT DEVELOPS CHATBOT FOR COVID-19 IN COLLABORATION WITH FACEBOOK
Punjab Government, in collaboration with Facebook, has developed a Chatbot to keep the people updated on information regarding Covid-19. “This Chatbot is available at the Facebook page — https://www.facebook.com/PunjabGovtIndia — and can be accessed by clicking on the message button of this page,” said the Government spokesperson. Describing the features available on this Chatbot, the spokesperson said that this facility starts responding as soon as you send a message. In the opening dialogue, it asks for choosing between three options — Covid-19 Info, essential shops and change language. The Chatbot supports Punjabi, Hindi and English languages. Spokesperson added that this Chatbot is based on an advanced artificial intelligence language technique system to give an immediate reply to frequently raised queries regarding Covid-19.
DEDICATED COVID HELPLINE NUMBERS LAUNCHED TO ADDRESS MEDICAL, ESSENTIAL SERVICES RELATED ISSUES
Punjab Government has launched a series of toll-free helpline numbers to ensure timely and quick redressal of various medical and essential service issues of public importance during lockdown. “Dedicated facilities including 112 for lodging any law and order related issue or complaint and 104 for all medical related needs have been launched with a single point agenda to provide counseling and de-stressing advice to people during these critical times,” said member of State Head Covid-19 Control Room Rahul Tiwari. Besides, a general helpline number 1905 has been made functional where people can take all necessary information about supply and availability of items of daily home use, Tiwari said adding that a separate number 108 facility has also been launched where ambulance service could be requested for.
EMPOWERED GROUP TO IDENTIFY HUMAN RESOURCES FOR COVID-19 RELATED ACTIVITIES
To identify human resources for Covid-19 related activities and necessary capacity building, the Central Government has constituted an Empowered Group and also made operational a Dashboard – a master database of healthcare professionals and volunteers – (https://covidwarriorssiov.in) which would provide State and district wise availability of human resources from various groups along with the contact details of the nodal officers. Official spokesperson said that data regarding a large pool of doctors including AYUSH doctors, nurses, other healthcare professionals and volunteer workforce from NSS, NYK, ex-servicemen, NCC, PMKVY etc, have already been shared on the dashboard which would help the State Government and District Administrations, Municipal Bodies to prepare crisis management or contingency plans based on the available manpower, in coordination with the nodal officers for each group.