Hyderabad, July 30 (Hydnow): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy on Thursday asked Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and Health Minister Etela Rajender to stop politicising the Covid-19 situation just to evade criticism and hide failures.
“CM KCR had given a statement on March 7 denying the prevalence of Covid-19 in Telangana and describing it as a common flu which can be treated with a Paracetamol tablet. Despite the fact that thousands (or may be lakhs of people) got infected with the deadly virus while over 500 people lost their lives, the Chief Minister did not change his attitude and approach towards the pandemic. Instead of attending to the issues related to Covid-19, the Chief Minister is still busy doing reviews on subjects of less importance in the present circumstances,” Narayana Reddy said in a media statement.
Reddy said that the TRS was in power for the last six-and-a-half years and KCR Govt did nothing either to upgrade the health infrastructure in the State or at least maintain what existed at the time of Telangana formation. Therefore, he alleged that TRS leaders, especially the Health Minister should stop blaming the Congress party to cover up their own inefficiency in handling the Covid-19 situation. “On June 28, CM KCR gave a hint in the official press release that another lockdown may be imposed for 15-days in view of the rising number of cases.
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He created confusion among the people and himself went into hiding for almost 15 days. He is yet to hold a detailed review meeting on the Covid-19 situation. He must order a probe on the huge increase in the number of cases in the recent past and the causes of death. The government must study the pattern of how the virus has spread and why so many people were killed. Such studies always prove helpful in handling similar pandemics in future. However, CM KCR lack seriousness and is waiting for the pandemic to end on its own,” he said.
“If the claims being made by the Health Minister with regard to handling Covid-19 situation were true, then why are we still getting reports of patients being denied admission citing lack of beds as an excuse? Why did hundreds of nursing staff, Class IV employees and sanitation staff in various hospitals and municipalities were still holding protests demanding payment of salaries for the last two months? If all hospitals are up to the mark, why are some patients still making selfie videos complaining of negligence?” he asked.
Gudur said that Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar has admitted in the High Court that more than 750 complaints were received against the private hospitals for charging exorbitant bills from the Covid-19 patients. “In that case, why has no action been taken on a single complaint so far?” he asked.
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Stating that many doctors, para-medical staff, police personnel, sanitation staff and journalists, who were categorised as frontline warriors in the combat against Covid-19, have succumbed to Coronavirus, he said that the State Government did not pay the demanded ex-gratia of Rs. 50 lakh to their families. He said that many States have paid Rs. 1 crore ex-gratia to frontline warriors. However, KCR Govt is not willing to emulate others in good things.
He said that the Chief Minister and Health Minister should stop politicising the Covid-19 situation by targeting the opposition parties in their statements. “Instead of condemning the criticism, they should find out why they were being criticised. They should learn to respond to positive suggestions given by the Congress party if they are genuine towards serving people,” he said. (Hydnow)