BHUBANESWAR: Making another appeal to people of the State to strictly adhere to all COVID-19 guidelines, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly to provide inspiring leadership in their constituencies to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Addressing a sensitisation workshop on COVID-19 for the legislators through video conferencing, the Chief Minister said, "Whether it is a natural disaster or a pandemic, my primary objective is to save every human life and I appeal to my family of four and half crores to follow all the guidelines of Government."
He said that the Government cannot be there in every house or street to enforce rules. It is the individual responsibility to jointly fight this pandemic and all members of the Assembly are in this together. Expressing his gratitude to all frontline workers, the Chief Minister said more than 18,000 people have been cured and Odisha has saved more people than most states of the country.
"It’s not an easy task to work continuously in an environment of uncertainty, but our COVID warriors in spite of getting infected themselves, in spite of their families getting infected, in spite of their lives been lost, have put up a valiant front for the last 150 days," he said.
"Let me as the Leader of the House humbly say that the dedication and sacrifice of our COVID warriors is an inspiration for entire Odisha. I see a Gopabandhu Das, a Madhubabu, a Maa Rama Devi, a Parvati Giri in each one of your sacrifices," Naveen added.
Requesting people to respect COVID warriors and treat then with dignity, he appealed that the MLAs to take personal care of themselves and also provide inspiring leadership in their constituencies.
"I assure all the members that the State will put every resource in its command to fight this pandemic and save peoples' lives. Funds will never be a constraint when it involves protecting our people. From travel to quarantine to testing to tracing and treatment, food, accommodation, everything has been provided free of cost," he said.
When hospitals in many states are charging lakhs of rupees for treatment, the Chief Minister said his Government is providing everything free of cost. "Whatever best treatment is available in any part of the world, Odisha will implement the same and make it accessible to our people free of cost," he added.
Exuding confidence that Odisha will emerge much stronger and prosperous post-pandemic, Naveen said that the Government has launched a series of livelihood interventions and industrial sector initiatives to kickstart the economy. Speaker SN Patro, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik and leader of the Congress legislature party Narsingh Mishra also spoke.