While expressing concern about the large number of people who did not receive the second dose of the vaccine, the panel called for an attempt to cover as many people as possible as early as possible in the ongoing vaccination campaign.
After the Interior Ministry, while reporting to the permanent committee on home affairs last month on the status of the Covid vaccination campaign in the country, told the panel that 98.46 doses of lakh vaccine had been administered on 18 February 2021, the committee recommended that all Frontline Healthcare Workers and Crown Warriors, including Central Armed Police Forces and Union Territory and State Police personnel, receive recommended doses of the vaccinate as soon as possible.
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In some people who did not receive the second dose of the vaccine, the panel in its report presented in Parliament on Monday said it was a very serious problem as the virus was mutating and new variants of Covid-19 were being reported in different parts. of the world.
The MHA, for its part, told the committee that the current vaccination campaign was the fastest in the world to achieve between 1 and 7 million vaccines and, in terms of the total number of vaccines administered as of February 18, India was in fourth position worldwide despite starting around a month later than other countries.
The Interior Ministry reported that periodic reviews are being conducted with the states and UT to increase the pace of the vaccination campaign and they have been issued warnings on various operational aspects of the Covid-19 vaccination.
In addition, a communication strategy was being implemented at the national and state level to raise awareness of the safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity of Covid-19 vaccines through the rapid and consistent dissemination of factual information and to address misinformation related to it.
Among the other topics covered in the standing committee report was the monitoring of glacial lake eruption flows (GLOFs) in view of the recent glacial outbreak at Chamoli in Uttarakhand.
The Committee noted that the Himalayan region of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand had young, fragile and sensitive mountains.
It recommended that an urgent assessment be made and that organizations such as the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, undertake glaciological studies and prepare an inventory of glacial lakes for the Himalayan region using geographic information and remote sensing (GIS) systems. .
In addition, the MHA must sensitize the States concerned to install an adequate early warning mechanism in each district.
The committee noted that the excessive felling of trees and the use of dynamites on hills / mountains of the Himalayan region for roads, tunnels, dams and other development / infrastructure projects was weakening the surrounding hills and could be causing avalanches, landslides. , flash floods, etc. .
He recommended that the MHA coordinate with interested agencies to immediately ban the use of dynamite for development projects in the Himalayan region.
The committee expressed disappointment at the spending of only 27.42% of the funds allocated to UT Ladakh in BE 2020-21. He asked MHA to coordinate with UT management to eliminate bottlenecks and ensure optimal use of funds at UT from the following year.
Seeking international air connectivity at J & K’s UT, the committee suggested that to realize the real tourism potential of UT, MHA address the matter with the civil aviation ministry to begin international commercial flight operations from Srinagar airport as soon as possible.
The committee noted that the current level of satisfaction with housing for Delhi police staff was only 19.53%, and staff moved to adjoining Faridabad and Gurugram in the absence of adequate accommodation in Delhi.
“Delays response in emergency situations,” the committee said, recommending that the MHA have the Delhi Police set annual targets to increase the number of accommodations for its staff and that an adequate budget be allocated for this purpose.
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