Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced a Rs 100-crore package to provide livelihood support to around 4.5 lakh urban poor families affected by the lockdown imposed across the country due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Urban Wage Employment Initiative will help sustain the livelihood of the poor families residing in 114 urban local body areas of the state, an official in the Chief Minister's Office said.
The programme, which will be implemented in association with the Mission Shakti Department, will continue till September in order to create livelihood opportunities for workers, labourers and daily wagers, he said.
The wages of every beneficiary will be credited directly to his/her bank account every week, he said, adding that the programme will be implemented by strictly adhering to the social distancing norms. The guidelines regarding the lockdown will have to be strictly followed while carrying out various tasks.
The objective is to make available livelihood opportunities through labour-oriented works to people belonging to the economically weaker section who have been severely affected by the ongoing lockdown, he said.
A number of development works like cleaning of drains, sanitisation, digging and remediation of water bodies, remodelling of playgrounds, development of sports infrastructure and parks, and construction of public toilets will be undertaken under the programme, the official said.
Apart from this, local artists will also be provided with the opportunity to work and do wall painting and mural painting in a major beautification drive, he added.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only emerged as a health problem, but also caused an economic and social crisis, the official said.
While the outbreak is affecting all segments of the population, it has hit hard socially and economically vulnerable sections of the society, he added.
The chief minister expressed hope that the programme would help the economically weaker section in this hour of crisis.
World
Coronavirus has spread to 185 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 22,61,264 and 1,54,789 have died; 15,29,385 are active cases and 5,77,090 have recovered as on April 18, 2020 at 5:38 pm.
India
In India, there are 14,792 confirmed cases including 488 deaths. The number of active cases is 12,289 and 2,015 have recovered as on April 18, 2020 at 5:00 pm.
State & District Details
State Cases Active Recovered Deaths Maharashtra3323
2791
331
201
Delhi1707
1593
72
42
Madhya Pradesh1355
1217
69
69
Tamil Nadu1323
1025
283
15
Gujarat1272
1136
88
48
Rajasthan1229
1035
183
11
Uttar Pradesh969
869
86
14
Telangana791
587
186
18
Andhra Pradesh603
546
42
15
Kerala396
138
255
3
Karnataka371
266
92
13
Jammu And Kashmir328
281
42
5
West Bengal287
222
55
10
Haryana225
179
43
3
Punjab202
162
27
13
Bihar85
46
37
2
Odisha60
38
21
1
Uttarakhand42
33
9
0
Himachal Pradesh38
21
16
1
Chhattisgarh36
12
24
0
Assam35
25
9
1
Jharkhand33
31
0
2
Chandigarh21
12
9
0
Ladakh18
4
14
0
Andaman And Nicobar Islands12
1
11
0
Meghalaya11
10
0
1
Goa7
1
6
0
Puducherry7
4
3
0
Manipur2
1
1
0
Tripura2
1
1
0
Mizoram1
1
0
0
Arunachal Pradesh1
1
0
0
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)