Swine Flu scare notwithstanding, Vibrant Kutch Summit begins today

As of Thursday, 463 people had tested positive for H1N1 virus since January 1 in Kutch.The communicable disease has claimed 35 lives so far. These figures are among the highest for a district in Gujarat. On Thursday, seven more positive cases had come to light but no casualty was reported.

District collectors of Bhavnagar, Rajkot and Ahmedabad have prohitibited large public gathering by imposing Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. A few schools in Ahmedabad and Rajkot have also declared vacations to contain spread of the virus.

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“Through video conferences and awareness programmes, we have trained teachers and other government staff as to how to respond to the situation. Therefore, we want to keep the schools and colleges open. If we declare vacation in schools, children will be in care of their illiterate parents who don’t know as much about Swine flu as the teachers. But if schools are open, teachers will report any suspected case of the disease directly to respective block health officer,” Patel further said.

The district administration had screened more than two lakh children and 46,000 pregnant women of Kutch on February 19 to trace any suspect case of the influenza. “There is enough awareness about the outbreak. Teachers as well as staff of other government department know about the disease. So, our manpower to counter the virus has increased,” added the collector.

Patel further added that he had instructed organisers of the summit to take precautionary measures. In response, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kutch (CCIK), has already installed 10 booths with hand-sanitisation failities.

“We have also hoisted banners requesting delegates and visitors to avoid handshake and instead perform namaskar. We will also distribute free masks at the registration desks,” said CCIK president Rajesh Bhatt.

The collector also said that district administration will station a team of paramedics at RR Lalan College Ground in Bhuj, the venue of the three-day summit-cum-exhibition, to tackle any suspect case.

Incidentally, Bhuj is the worst affected taluka of Kutch. Out of 463 cases, 210 have been registered from this taluka with 10 deaths so far.

The summit is jointly organised by CCIK, Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), a state government body and two other organisations. The expo will be thrown open on Friday. Chief Minister Anandiben Patel will inaugurate the summit on Saturday. Delegates from 13 countries will attend the meet. The event will also feature a meeting of around 1,000 sarpanches of around 1,000 villages of Kutch.

The CCIK president further said that the objective of the meet was to highlight Kutch as an industry, tourism, education and cultural destination.