Emergency workers being vaccinated on priority, says Gangula Kamalakar
KARIMNAGAR: Civil supplies minister Gangula Kamalakar on Friday declared that only Telangana government is conducting a special drive in the country to administer Covid vaccines to people involved in emergency services.
Inaugurating a special vaccination drive on the premises of Women's Hostel in Karimnagar, Kamalakar pointed out that vaccination is being prioritised for people such as ration and LPG dealers, drivers and persons working at petrol bunks, as they interact with many people. Hence, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has taken the initiative of organising a special vaccination drive for these sections of people across the state.
The minister pointed out that there are around 15,000 ration shops across the state, where 33,980 persons are working. Likewise, there are 794 in LPG gas distribution agencies with 49,616 workers and 3,279 petrol bunks with overall 83,596 persons working under the civil supplies department.
Since all these persons are working in essential services, the state government is determined to vaccinate and protect them. He observed that after vaccination, these people will acquire confidence and continue serving people with more enthusiasm.
Speaking about procurement of food grains, Kamalakar said that the state government has set a target of procuring around 82 lakh metric tonnes of food grains this year, of which 70 lakh metric tonnes has already been procured till date. This was done despite shortage of labour due to the pandemic situation. The remaining procurement will be completed in about 10 to12 days, he assured.
The minister said the state government has also decided to administer the vaccine to around 33,000 staff members working at various procurement centres across the state.
