The North Eastern Council (NEC)has released Rs 3.25 crore to Arunachal Pradesh to fight against the COVID-19 outbreak in the state, a statement issued on Saturday said.This financial assistance does not fall under the existing central packages and can be utilised as "gap-funding" for the initiatives taken by the state government to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic."The NEC has released the amount to the state government on Friday. The flexibility (for using the resource) would enable the state to respond effectively in a timely manner as per the situation on the ground," the statement said.The fund is "in addition to the resources allocated by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER ) and the NEC" to the state government under the existing schemes, it said.The primary focus of the Centre and the state government is to effectively deal with the situation arising out of the coronavirus outbreak.One COVID-19 case has been reported in Arunachal Pradesh so far, an official said.In view of the coronavirus outbreak and measures being taken to fight the same in the north-east region, DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh had recently held a detailed review meeting with the senior officials of the ministry and the NEC, the statement said.During the meeting, it was decided that the ministry would provide Rs 25 crore to the north eastern states to support their efforts to fight against the outbreak, it added.
