Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today contributed Rs. 10 Lakh, raised from voluntary/personal sources, for the COVID affected children of his Lok Sabha constituency of Udhampur-Kathua-Doda. Deputy Commissioner Kathua, Rahul Yadav received the cheque for the amount, in his capacity as the Nodal Authority for all the six districts of the constituency.

During his visit to Kathua, Dr Jitendra Singh also met a group of children who had lost their bread-earner during the current pandemic. He said, it is not in any way possible to compensate for the loss of the near and dear ones, but to live up to the call of our conscience, we have sought to make a very small and a humble effort to stand by these children.

This amount, said Dr Jitendra Singh, is a very little and a modest voluntary contribution for the children who had lost their family care-taker in the wake of COVID, but added that he is constantly trying to raise more assistance in the times to come. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken the lead in coming forward to announce substantial financial support for such children and this move of the Prime Minister inspires all of us to contribute or do whatever possible within our means to help those affected by the unprecedented calamity.

The cheque handed over by Dr Jitendra Singh today is in addition to Rs.2.5 crore allocated by him earlier from his MP Fund for providing COVID care facilities in different districts of his Lok Sabha constituency. Out of the allocated MP Fund, the COVID related items worth over Rs.2.1 crore have already been processed for purchase and procurement, the authorities informed.

Meanwhile, five consignments of COVID related material raised from different sources, at the personal initiative of Dr Jitendra Singh, had already been dispatched during the last one month to all the six districts of the constituency as well as some other parts of the Jammu region and also the Kashmir valley.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that he was down with COVID for over a month and his last tour before getting hospitalised was to the site of Rs. 200 crore Mansar Lake Project in district Udhampur. He said, he felt gratified that with the grace of God, his very first visit after recovering from COVID was again destined to be to his constituency, as Kathua happens to be the nodal district of this Lok Sabha constituency.

Dr Jitendra Singh expressed satisfaction that having learnt from the experience of last year, all the six districts of the constituency had been able to fare better and the pandemic also witnessed lesser spike than some other districts. He appreciated the perfect coordination between the administration, medical authorities, the Party leadership and the civil society in meeting this challenge.

While Oxygen availability and adequate COVID Care Centres have been ensured in every district, Dr Jitendra Singh noted that Kathua had made pre-emptive preparations to ensure surplus availability of Oxygen and even during a brief lapse in the Oxygen Plant in the early days, immediate alternative arrangements in the form of Oxygen cylinders from the neighbouring districts were made in order to sustain the confidence of the community and the society, so that in no situation, anyone should feel apprehensive about any possible unavailability of Oxygen. He also appreciated the community leaders for their cooperation.

Dr Jitendra Singh reiterated that during a pandemic like this, it is time for all of us to rise above differences, if any, and contribute our might in the war against Corona led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said, while serving the community and cooperating with the administration, we have also to take care that we do not disturb the working of the administration or the health authorities by our presence.

Dr Jitendra Singh expressed satisfaction that the recent surge in Jammu & Kashmir has been on a progressive decline during the last two weeks.

Deputy Commissioner Kathua, Rahul Yadav made a brief presentation related to COVID management.

Also present were senior officers of the administration and public representatives as well as prominent leaders including DDC Chairman, Col. Mahan Singh, DDC Vice-Chairman Raghunandan Singh Babloo, Municipal Chairman KathuaNaresh Sharma, Municipal Chairman LakhanpurRavinder Sharma, former Minister Rajiv Jasrotia, senior leader PremNath Dogra, Janak Bharti, Gopal Mahajan, RashpalVerma, Chairman Hiranagar Municipal Advocate Vijay Sharma, Ex-MLA Kuldeep Raj, Rajesh Mehta and others.

Soon after reaching Kathua, Dr Jitendra Singh first visited the residence of veteran Jan Sangh leader, ChoudharyChhaggar Singh who had recently passed away at the age of 101 years and paid his condolences to the bereaved family.

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