Wednesday, 25 August 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
The handling of the pandemic of Covid-19, deaths of patients and Kumbh testing scam generated heat on the second of the Monsoon session of Uttarakhand assembly on Tuesday. As soon as the proceedings of the day began the opposition members led by the leader of the opposition (LoP) Pritam Singh demanded discussion on the subject under rule 310. The speaker Prem Chand Agarwal however allowed discussion under rule 58.
Starting the debate on the subject Pritam Singh said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had warned the government about the pandemic on February 12, 2020 itself but the Modi government ignored it and organised ‘Namaste Trump’ programme. Castigating the government for failing to tackle the disease, Singh said that the government was busy asking people to clap and beating plates. He also criticised the government for imposing a hastily planned lockdown which brought misery to migrants. Speaking on the issue, the deputy leader of Congress party, Karan Mahra said that the Modi government has launched such a campaign to claim the credit of the free vaccination drive as if it is doing some sort of favour on the people. He said that a large number of people had returned to their villages during the pandemic but the government has made no arrangement for their rehabilitation and providing employment to them. He said that there was a mad rush for oxygen, hospital beds and ventilators during the second wave as the government failed miserably to provide necessary equipment and medicines. Mahra said that the Kumbh testing scam is a big blot on Uttarakhand and the investigation on it is going at a snail’s pace.
Manglaur MLA, Qazi Nizamuddin became emotional while narrating the painful experience of losing his mother and brother in law from the disease. He said that the government failed in controlling the disease and warned that necessary preparations should be made to deal with the third wave of the pandemic. Qazi claimed that the ventilators provided to the hospitals under PM Care Fund have become defunct due to absence of trained doctors and many of them have developed snags. Bhagwanpur MLA, Mamta Rakesh said that the government should provide compensation to the families of Covid-19 victims. Dharchula MLA Harish Dhami said that the government’s claim of providing free medicines to the Covid-19 patients is false.
Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat said that his assembly constituency which is visited regularly by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only one level II hospital and patients of the area are referred to the Medical College Srinagar. He said that he is ready to spend Rs 3 Crore of his MLA local development fund on increasing medical facilities in his area but the officials are not interested.
The house witnessed heated exchange of words between the LoP Pritam Singh and the BJP MLA from Vikasnagar, Munna Singh Chauhan on the issue of social service rendered by Congress and BJP workers during the pandemic. Pritam Singh said that the Congress workers were with the people during the pandemic while BJP leaders and workers were nowhere to be seen. This triggered a strong protest from the treasury benches. The traditional rivalry between Chauhan and Pritam Singh came to the fore with both of them accusing each other of doing nothing during the pandemic.
