Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan on Tuesday called on the vice-chancellors of all the universities to take up Coronavirus awareness programmes on mission mode to succeed in the fight against the pandemic.

During a video conference with the vice-chancellors, he stressed on the need for implementing the fivefold strategy of ‘testing, tracing, treatment, Covid appropriate behaviour and vaccination’, which were highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent virtual interactions with the Governors and Chief Ministers.

“PM had also advised that a campaign should be taken up with the active involvement of universities and students to spread awareness about Covid-appropriate behaviour and all other precautions as required to prevent and control the pandemic, with the support of civil society, prominent persons, religious leaders, public representatives etc.,” said Harichandan.

The Governor noted that the pandemic posed a huge challenge to the higher education department, currently making the role of vice-chancellors crucial in taking appropriate measures for the safety of the students and staff without compromising on academics.

“Higher education institutes also have larger responsibility towards the public to create an awareness about protective and preventive aspects with active involvement of existing network of NCC and NSS cadre and to utilize their services,” he observed.

He also adviced to create awareness about maintaining physical fitness, regular yoga and ayurvedic medicines.

He also called upon students to use AP Red Cross Mobile App to campaign for community surveillance throughout the state on a war footing while also protecting themselves from the risk.

Harichandan appealed to all sections of the society to extend full cooperation to the government in tackling the spread of the pandemic.

Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhushan Harichandan on Monday said that the right to vote, which is a powerful instrument in the hands of people and makes them sentinels of the noble tradition of democracy, should not be exercised just mechanically.

“The right to vote is the mother of all political rights provided under the Constitution. Every citizen of the country, including youth, should feel proud of performing their respective Constitutional duties as this will ensure their meaningful participation and significant contribution to the growth of the nation and the society,” said Harichandan.

He called for the new and young voters to come forward and actively participate in the celebration of our democracy and said that the actual participation and exercise of the right to vote would empower and enable youth to contribute for the welfare of the society.

“In a democracy, voters are not subject to any pressure or fear and they are free to choose the candidate of their choice and advised youth to come forward and register themselves as voters once they become eligible,” said the Governor at the programme held at the durbar hall in the Raj Bhavan to commemorate the 11th national voters day.

K. Vijayanand, chief electoral officer, said that the voters day is being celebrated all over the country with the theme ‘make our voters empowered, vigilant, safe and informed’.

He said voters day is celebrated on January 25, a day on which the Election Commission of India (ECI) was constituted in 1950.

Vijayanand said that the final electoral rolls for AP were published on January 15.

Later, Harichandan presented awards to Visakhapatnam collector V. Vinay Chand, Vizianagaram collector M. Hari Jawahar Lal and other officials.

Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan asked for public support to eradicate Tuberculosis (TB) by 2025 on Friday as he launched the TB Seal Sale campaign.

“TB continuous to be a killer disease and its spread has become a cause for concern even in the developed world,” said Harichandan at the Raj Bhavan’s Durbar Hall.

He reminded that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared TB as a global emergency and India as the second most populous country in the world which shoulders a quarter of all the cases.

The Governor said nearly 27 lakh TB cases were notified in India in 2019 while AP is estimated to have nearly 1 lakh cases, though with a successful cure rate of 91 per cent, achieved with the implementation of Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) with directly observed treatment (DBT) in all the districts.

“Centre is implementing aEnd TB Strategy’ with more focus on active case finding, introduction of highly specific and sensitive molecular diagnostics in the programme,” he said.

Introduction of daily treatment regimen, universal drug susceptibility testing and introduction of new drugs for drug resistant TB are some measures which Harichandan highlighted as being implemented by the government.

However, he stressed on the need to scale up programme activities at grassroots level with active participation of voluntary organizations such as TB Association, Indian Medical Association, Red Cross, Lepra India, TB Alert, World Vision, AMG India International and Arogyavaram Medical Centre and others to control the lethal scourge.

Meanwhile, the Governor has also appealed for generous contribution from the public to TB Seal Sale campaign and for partnering to eradicate the disease by 2025.