In a rare gesture, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday spoke to around a dozen local leaders of political parties and sought their cooperation and suggestions to combat the pandemic in the Union Territory (UT). However, no leader from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was contacted.
A Raj Bhawan spokesman said the L-G held a telephonic conversation with the leaders, which included National Conference (NC) president and Member of Parliament Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad, G.A. Mir, Saifuddin Soz and Ravinder Sharma; BJP's Dr. Nirmal Singh and Ravinder Raina; J&K Apni Party's Altaf Bukhari and Peoples Conference's Sajad Lone and Muzaffar Baigh and National Panthers Party's Bhim Singh.
The spokesman, however, conspicuously did not name any PDP leader.
"These leaders assured the L-G their cooperation in Covid containment efforts of the UT government," the spokesman said.
The L-G, the spokesman said, is of the opinion that the representatives of public and political leaders have an important role to play in these trying times.
"With everyone’s support and cooperation, we can successfully break the chain of the spread of Covid pandemic," the L-G said.
He said the UT administration is committed to the safety of the people. "We are working round-the-clock and doing our best to ensure the availability of all the necessary medicare facilities, besides taking comprehensive measures to strengthen the rapid response mechanism to deal with the emerging situation," the L-G said.
Describing the present COVID situation in the UT as "under control", the L-G said the medical oxygen in J&K has been increased three times in the last six months. "Besides, the government has ensured an uninterrupted supply of oxygen cylinders," he added.
