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Our Reporter
Dimapur, May 22 (EMN): With an aim to mitigate the novel coronavirus transmission through community participation, ‘A Better Dimapur’ team has initiated the distribution of 5000 locally-sewn face masks in Nagaland’s commercial hub.
The face mask awareness programme was launched by Phed minister Jacob Zhimomi at a brief event at The Garden in Supermarket, Dimapur on Thursday.
A Better Dimapur, which was initiated by Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) in 2017 to look into the welfare of the city, started distributing 5000 face masks sewn by its members on Friday.
To be distributed phase-wise, the target groups on the launch day were those more vulnerable to Covid-19 exposure like labourers, commercial mini-truck drivers, NST bus drivers, Covid-19 team bus drivers, vegetable vendors and returnees from outside the state.
Zhimomi said at the launch event that the state government has accumulated all the resources available to fight the Covid-19 and has done its best along with the other states. On criticisms and allegations from the people that standard amenities were not provided to the Covid-19 hospitals in the state, he assured that all possible resources available in the medical department have been provided.
He said the fight against this pandemic was not of the government alone but a collective effort. He also gave away a fogging machine to A Better Dimapur team members during the programme.
Dimapur Commissioner of Police Rothihu Tetseo said that citizen participation was very important at this juncture and that “we can fight the pandemic” if everyone sincerely participates. Reminding that Dimapur has the highest number of NGOs, he said the city will benefit if all the organisations sincerely work for the people.
APC and Covid-19 in-charge of Dimapur Y Kikheto Sema observed that Dimapur has more challenges than other districts, being the commercial city of the state. He added that the people have realised that ‘we cannot fight Covid-19’ without Dimapur.
He acknowledged that whatever the state government and the officials could do so far was because of the contribution of the civil society.
Dimapur Deputy Commissioner Anoop Khinchi urged the citizens to continue practising the three golden rules to fight the virus: wear face masks, maintain social distancing and wash hands frequently.
DMC administrator Albert Ezung, in his address, said that the state has been successful in the fight against the Covid-19 so far and that due credit and acknowledgment should be given to the legislators, frontline workers and bureaucrats. The Covid-19, he said, is going to stay for some time and “we will have to live with it”.
"Let us all come forward and not leave it up to the government authority alone; and in the absence of vaccine, let us follow the protocol of wearing the mask,” he pleaded.