The State government has made a cautious exit plan from the lockdown and various arms of the government machinery will begin to resume responsibilities and assignments. This was announced by chief minister Neiphiu Rio.
In his message to the people of Nagaland, Rio however cautioned that end of the lockdown did not mean the virus was no more and stressed that lockdown was only one of the measures aimed at slowing the rate of infection. He appealed to all sections of people to continue to diligently follow the official advisories, maintain social distancing and practise highest standards of hand hygiene.
Mentioning that the battle was not over and that there was a long way to go, he said “Yet, we must continue to move ahead and march forward. We must join hands to rebuild our economy. “
As the Government of India extended the lockdown by another two weeks and “we” cautiously exit the lockdown, “we will open up to a different and a changed world. Many aspects of our lives will never be the same again. The dynamics of global village have altered,” the message read.
The chief minister called for adapting, acclimatising and moving on, adding the quicker and more efficiently people do, the more successful they would emerge.
Stating that this was health, economic and educational crises, he assured that the State government would be undertaking various measures and strategies to address them. He hoped people would continue to extend their fullest cooperation, support and participation in the fight to overcome the crisis.
He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Government of India for the “forthright and decisive leadership”, claiming that India was in a much better position today than many other countries in the fight against the pandemic.
Asserting that he had full trust and belief in the resilience of “our people” in these difficult times, Rio said his motivation came from the strength and the energy drawn from each one of them. He said all were members of Team Nagaland and called for working as one to win this war together.
He pointed out that the world continues to battle novel coronavirus pandemic that had spread to every continent on the planet and no country had been spared. Even the most developed and advanced nations continue to grapple with a situation that was unparalleled in history. Millions have been infected and affected by it, and hundreds of thousands have died.
“By the grace of God, we do not have a single positive case in our State, and we hope that the pandemic will continue to stay away from us,” he remarked.
Rio said Nagaland joined rest of the country and world in a united effort to break the chain by going into a lockdown on March 25. He thanked and complimented every citizen of the State for their sacrifices, contributions and cooperation in making the efforts of the government and the civil societies successful. He observed that no strategy of any government could be successful unless the people came forward with support and solidarity, asserting Nagas had stood up to the occasion.
As the pandemic spread alarmingly across the world, he admitted the State was not prepared for the monumental challenges. But, all sections joined the government machinery to collectively face the hurdles and today the State was in a better position to address the challenges. He appreciated and praised frontline workers for their tireless efforts.
Thanking doctors, nurses and other health workers who are risking their lives to identify and treat COVID patients, many a time without adequate gears, the chief minister said the police, administration, local bodies, field workers in municipalities and departments, village councils, tribal hohos and countless people in the government and non-government set-ups were doing commendable work and were at the forefront of this battle.
Stating that the world was not prepared and that nobody had anticipated this crisis, Rio admitted there were shortcomings and mistakes. But he asserted that the efforts of the agencies concerned that battled against all odds were not lacking in any manner.
He observed that Nagas united as a people, opposition extended their hands of support, civil societies rose to the occasion and every believer joined the church in arming with prayer support, mentioning that the fight had been collective.
“Despite our shortfalls, we have shown the world that our strengths of strong social bonds, our culture of collective oneness and our nature of discipline and generosity are values and assets which help us through difficult times. Even as we learn from others, it is also a fact that our unique qualities emerged as a rainbows of hope,” he said.