By Our Correspondent, Pokhara, Mar 26: The Gandaki State government has established a fund of Rs. 150 million for the prevention, control andmanagement of COVID-19 in the state.

A meeting of the State government held on Wednesday decided to set up the fund, as informed by the government’s spokesperson Ram Sharan Basnet.

He further informed that all the seven ministers of the State including the chief minister would be contributing their one month’s salary to the fund.

The meeting also decided to call on all elected representatives, civil servants, businessmen and traders as well as the private sector to support the fund.

Moreover, an amount of Rs 500,000 will be provided to each of the 11 district hospitals of Gandaki to purchase the equipment required for prevention, control and management of the infectious disease.

This amount is in addition to the Rs 500,000 the hospitals have already received.

Similarly, the meeting also set up a five-member committee to monitor and control the spread of the coronavirus in Gandaki.

The committee will be headed by the state’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Kiran Gurung and will include Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Hari Bahadur Chuman, Minister for Physical Infrastructure

Development Ram Sharan Basnet, Minister for Social Development Nardevi Pun Magar and the state’s Chief Secretary Hari Prasad Basyal as members.