Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal started the first day of Assamese New Year, Bohag Bihu, by spending a few moments with the homeless at the temporary shelter house at Khanikar in Dibrugarh on Tuesday. Sonowal served cooked food to 33 people.

Altogether 33 homeless people have been living in the shelter provided by the Dibrugarh administration because of the lockdown. The district administration has arranged food, healthcare and other essential facilities for all of them.

Sonowal appealed to all who are capable of helping to come forward and provide food to needy people. Appreciating the roles played by the health department, food and civil supplies department, police, and essential services workers in containing coronavirus outbreak in Assam, Sonowal thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swift and decisive action.

He also underlined the need to maintain hygienic practices like hand wash and social-distancing norms to control coronavirus as no cure or vaccine has been found against the virus till now.

Urging the people of the state not to take the lockdown measures lightly, Sonowal warned that any negligence to maintain lockdown would seriously impact the government’s efforts to prevent the outbreak and break the chain of spread.