Assam Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal on Tuesday called up three former chief ministers, senior BJP leaders, and leaders of opposition parties to apprise them of the state governments efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak in the state.Sonowal dialled former chief ministers Tarun Gogoi and Bhumidhar Barman of the Congress, and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta of the Asom Gana Parishad(AGP), alliance partner of the BJP- led government in the state.The others leaders he reached out included Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia of the Congress, AIUDF Legislature Party leader Hafiz Bashir Ahmed (Qasimi), former Union ministers Bijaya Chakrabarty, Kabindra Purkayastha, Rajen Gohain and Paban Singh Ghatowar.The chief minister also spoke to state senior citizen welfare board chairman Harekrishna Bharali, and president of Sadou Asom Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan Krishna Lahkar, among others.Sonowal informed them about the various measures undertaken by the state government like setting up of a quarantine facility with 1,000 beds for COVID-19 patients at Sarusajai Stadium here, making the medical colleges capable of handling coronavirus patients, plans for setting up five prefabricated COVID-19 hospitals at Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Lakhimpur, Silchar and Bongaigaon, and making arrangements for training doctors and para medical staff.The senior politicians were apprised of the steps taken by the state government to provide free rice to 58 lakh families of Assam under National Food Security Act (NFSA) during this crisis.Assuring the leaders of the success of the Assam governments initiatives for containing coronavirus outbreak, the chief minister told them that the Assam government is fully prepared to tackle a spike in coronavirus infections in the near future.The views of the leaders were also taken about the prevailing situation, a CMO press release said.In his call with the senior leaders, the chief minister requested them to ask their supporters to maintain social distancing and other protocols during the lockdown period.Sonowal also enquired about their health during the telephonic talks.
