The Hingoli Municipal Council in Maharashtra has decided to lure people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by offering them prizes like LED TVs, refrigerators and washing machines, officials said on Thursday.
Similar incentives were also announced by the Chandrapur civic body in the state earlier this month to encourage people to take the vaccine.
In Hingoli district, located over 500 km from Mumbai, 73 per cent of the eligible people have so far taken the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 56 per cent have taken both the jabs, an official said.
Considering the threat of a possible third wave of COVID-19, Hingoli Collector Jitendra Papalkar called an emergency meeting on Wednesday and instructed the district administration officials to encourage more and more people to get vaccinated, Pandit Mhaske, the municipal council's project officer on COVID-19 duty, told PTI.
The municipal council's chief officer, Dr Ajay Kurwade, decided to organise a lucky draw on December 27 for city residents who get vaccinated between December 2 and 24, he said.
"It has been decided to give an LED television set as the first prize in the lucky draw, followed by washing machine, refrigerator, mixer grinder and five other prizes," he said.
People who come forward to take the first dose of vaccine are also eligible to participate in the lucky draw, he added.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the district has so far reported 16,059 cases of the viral infection and 395 deaths. A total of 15,659 have till now recovered from the disease and there are five active cases in the district at present, another official said.
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