MUBASHAR NAQVI
MUZAFFARABAD On the special directives of Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan, a Central Control Room (CCR) has been setup at Jammu and Kashmir House Islamabad on Tuesday to further improve the interdepartmental coordination and monitoring during the corona combat operation of the state government. Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan would personally monitor the control room activities while Minister Information and Chief Organizer of PML-N state chapter Raja Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas and Minister State Disaster Management Authority Ahmed Raza Qadri would share the key responsibilities of the CCR.Speaking on the occasion, Minister Information Raja Musthaq Ahmed Minhas has said that state and federal governments, oppositions and other concerned authorities were engaged in their respective work to deal with such crisis situation created by the COVID-19. ‘Coronavirus is not the issue of any single country. It is a global pandemic which needs to be tackled through cohesive and effective strategy’, Minhas asserted. He said Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan has refused to take medical rest advised by the doctors after his eyes surgery and devoted himself for the safety of masses. ‘He himself monitoring all ongoing operations against the deadly virus throughout the state’, He informed. Raja Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas told that CCR aims to improve the inter-departmental coordination. The control room would also help aligning the decisions made by State Coordination Committee and federal government. ‘In case of need, CCR has been assigned the responsibility of establishing contact and organizing video-link meeting between PM, Chief Secretary offices, representatives’ of Pak Army, secretaries, commissioners and other concerned officials’, the minister informed. He further informed that AJK government has decided to identify fifty thousand families initially for which, a committee has constituted under the chairmanship of Senior Member Board of Revenue Fayyaz Ali Abbasi. ‘The committee is mandated to compile the list of deserving families and devising a comprehensive strategy to financially support the poor, daily wagers and other underprivileged segments of the society for four months period’, he added. He, however, made it clear that such financial assistance would be done separately from BISP. Speaking on the occasion, Minister for State Disaster Management Authority Ahmed Raza Qadri said that CCR would also facilitate coordination between state and federal institutions and donor agencies to effectively tackle with the situation.