Amid alarming rise of Covid-19 cases in Jharkhand; Ministers of the Hemant Soren Government have switched-over to ‘work from home’ mode at a time when one of the Ministers Mithilesh Kumar Thakur was diagnosed positive with Coronavirus and Chief Minister Hemant Soren a week back quarantined himself as he come in contact with Thakur during a private programme.
Notably, former Minister and JMM’s Tundi MLA Mathura Prasad Mahto (52) was also diagnosed with the virus.
“I am working from home and will avoid visiting the office till the situation improves. State government has taken all measures to control the situation and we will certainly win the battle against the virus very soon with cooperation of common people,” said rural development minister Alamgir Alam.
The last Cabinet meeting took place on July 10 and the next meeting is unlikely to be held in the coming days.
“A lot of preparations are done for the Cabinet meeting. Marathon meetings of officials and ministers of the concerned department are held besides ministers have to join the cabinet meeting which will defeat the basic purpose of social distancing. I can’t say that as to when the next meeting of the cabinet will be held. But it will not affect day to day administration because the chief minister is vested with special power to take any decision,” said Alam.
Though, the government claims that day-to-day administrative work remains unaffected but Jharkhand assembly speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato has a different set of concerns.
The monsoon session of the Assembly usually starts by the mid of July. But this year there is a very dim chance that monsoon session can be started in July or even in August. Notably, the government has already extended lockdown by July 31.
“Under constitutional norms we can’t escape any Session of the House. It will have to be done at any cost…but how I am clueless. Functioning of the assembly was returning to normalcy but the situation has turned bad once again. Cabinet finalizes schedule of the assembly session subject to approval of the Governor. We are waiting,” said the assembly speaker.
Other ministers of the Hemant Soren government namely Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon, Labour and Employment minister Satyanand Bhokta, HRD Minister Jagarnath Mahto, Minister of Minority Welfare Haji Hussain Ansari, and Transport Minister Champai Soren are working from home.
One of the close associates of Ansari said that the minister stopped visiting office from the past one week.
“He holds meetings with officials of his department over the phone and he accesses necessary official documents through e-mail. Number of staff at his residence office too has been reduced as precaution,” said the minister’s close associates.
There is a huge onus upon the chief minister and his cabinet team to workout long and short term strategies to tackle the crisis emerging out of the pandemic for which the chief minister also earned accolades.
But for health minister Banna Gupta who recently had undergone minor surgery it is particularly difficult for him to confine himself.
“Coincidently, I am heading that department which is on the forefront of the battle. I have to stay updated about the situation and requirements and these things are not possible without physical involvement. But we take due precaution while discharging our responsibility,” said the Minister.
Gupta is also the part of the group of ministers to aid and advise the Government in taking important policy decisions on the issue of how to tackle the threat of spread of Covid-19 in Jharkhand.
Other two Ministers are Oraon and Bhokta.