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Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, April 30 (EMN): Even as the ‘new normal’ continues to reshape lives, it is worth noting that the Covid-19 pandemic has spurred government administrators to devise new solutions.
For instance, the public order issued by the deputy commissioner (DC) of Mon, Thavaseelan K, on the ‘local greens project’, where the district administration, in collaboration with the Hills Area Development Organisation and a local church, identified 23 villages from where local produce could be directly collected and delivered at home with a minimal delivery charge of INR 10.
It is not unusual to have a food delivery system, as commercial food chains in urban areas resort to home delivery systems to cater to its customers. But until now, residents living in the commercial hub or the state capital were the only ones who could avail this service in the state.
The pandemic has served a reminder, in the starkest way possible, of the price for neglecting health systems, social protections and public services.
It has highlighted ongoing human rights challenges, including stigma and violence against women.
However, with a stroke of a pen on a public document, the DC of Mon has shown how the district—widely considered one of the remotest and underdeveloped in the state—could be a groundbreaker.
After the imposition of lockdown, Mon was the first district to provide assistance and rehabilitation to women and girls facing domestic violence during the lockdown. It also set up mobile ATM facilities in different villages to help ease the difficulty faced by the people.
It therefore comes as no surprise that the DC has also recently spearheaded the launch of a mobile app to “monitor the current, previous and future movements of people under observation for Covid-19,” which will be a first in the state.
The app “NL-SOJO COVID”, which has been developed in collaboration with Sita Corp., will monitor people in quarantine or lockdown (at home or in hospital), medical and emergency personnel providing care, employees in essential retail, grocery stores, and other high-exposure occupations, recent travellers by air, rail, bus, etc., and voluntary citizen opt-in.
The Mon district administration has also tied up with Intugine Technologies and Infinite Analytic, a Bengaluru-based start-up, for a real time dashboard.
“The solution developed by Intugine Technologies can work without installing any application which makes it very effective and easy to implement. It uses SMS-based user consent to initiate tracking. Alternatively, the Covid-19 Quarantine Alert System (CQAS) developed by the department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), government of India can be used for implementing the solution,” according to an update from the DC.
The dashboard will be used by the district war room for better monitoring of those under home and facility quarantine, it said. Again, Mon was the first to set up a district war room.
While it is uncertain whether the solutions and the app will succeed, as far as Mon district is concerned, it appears that all hands are on deck to fight this pandemic.
Unusual problems, perhaps, require unusual tools to solve.