Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, commerce and industries Piyush Goyal has appreciated the efforts put in by the Himachal government to make it the first state in the country to vaccinate 100% of its eligible population with the first dose of Covid vaccine besides ensuring food safety to the targeted groups.
While addressing ‘Sewa Aur Samarpan Abhiyan’ at Totu-Jutogh in Shimla on Friday, he said the HP government has made tremendous progress in all spheres of development in the last 50 years.
Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said the ‘Sewa Aur Samarpan Abhiyan’ was launched throughout the country to celebrate two decades of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in public service.
Thakur said that the Union government has provided wholehearted support and cooperation to the state government to effectively tackle the Covid-19 pandemic in the state. He said Himachal, after achieving the 100% target of administering the first dose of vaccines to the eligible population, was now striving hard to become the first state in the country to attain the cent-percent vaccination of the people (both doses) by November this year.
He said that the state to date has vaccinated about 46% of its eligible population with the second dose.
The CM also planted a sapling of jacaranda, an ornamental plant, while Piyush Goyal planted a sapling of silver oak on the occasion.
Earlier, CM Thakur had welcomed Union minister Goyal at Hotel Peterhoff by presenting him bouquets, shawl and a Himachali cap.
The Union and chief ministers also visited the vaccination centre at Totu and interacted with the doctors, paramedical staff and the people who had come for vaccination.
MP and state BJP president Suresh Kashyap also spoke on the occasion and detailed various welfare schemes launched by the central and state governments.
Health minister Dr Rajiv Saizal, HIMFED chairperson Ganesh Dutt, political adviser to chief minister Trilok Jamwal, Shimla BJP district president Ravi Mehta and BJP leader Pramod Sharma were among those present during the event.