NEW DELHI: Minister of State for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh on Monday said that five out of the eight states in the North-East are corona-free now.
He said that those five states are - Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura.
"Three states in the region - Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram - are not corona-free but there have been no new positive cases in these states in the recent past," Singh said.
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Singh said that the credit for the low incidence of cases in the North-east goes to the way the government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given priority to the region's development in the past six years.
"Even during this emergency, the way the air cargo was operational in bringing supplies to the region, there was no shortage in the area of essential goods. From March 30 onwards, supplies kept reaching the region through Air India and the Indian Air Force. It was Prime Minister Modi's directive that the North-East, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and island areas of the country be given priority," Singh said.
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"The governments in all eight North-eastern states have worked hard and collaborated with the Centre during this crisis. The North-East Development Council which is headquartered in Shillong has done an excellent job of coordination during this period," he added.
MoS Singh further pointed out that the DoNER had made available a fund amounting to Rs 25 crore for the state governments of the region even before the lockdown was imposed.