Hyderabad, March 18 Telangana spent Rs 1,178 crore on measures to fight the coronavirus, state Finance Minister T. Harish Rao said on Thursday.
Presenting the State Budget for 2021-22, he said the amount was spent for isolation centres, medicines, beds, food and other necessities.
Speaking on the measures taken to control the pandemic, he said the government set up 1,200 corona test centres across the state. Covid tests were conducted on 2.11 lakh people out of every 10 lakh population.
The minister told the State Assembly that Rs.2,455 crore were spent to help the poor people of the state and the migrant workers on humanitarian grounds.
In the first three months of the lockdown, each person was provided with 12 kg of rice in ration free of cost. Even after that, 10 kg of rice was provided for five more months. Rs 1,500 was provided as assistance to each family having a ration card for two months. This amount was transferred directly into their accounts.
He claimed that 6.47 lakh migrant workers were given Rs 500 each along with 5 kg of rice. The amount spent for this was Rs 107 crore. Arrangements were made to transport 2,01,213 migrant workers to their native places in 151 special trains.
The government provided an incentive of Rs 235.36 crore to the police, doctors and sanitation workers who were in the forefront of fighting corona tirelessly. It also provided financial assistance to journalists and advocates affected by Corona.
Harish Rao said several reforms were initiated in the health sector with the objective of achieving 'Aarogya Telangana'.
With the increase in the number of patients during the Corona pandemic, the government immediately swung into action and established the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) on war footing. The government set up 224 Basti Dawakhanas to provide free medical treatment to the urban poor. In these dawakhanas, 196 types of medicines were made available and 56 types of medical tests were being conducted.
The minister proposed Rs 6,295 crore for Medical and Health Department in Budget 2021-22.
( With inputs from IANS )
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