Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday said that the Narendra Modi-led central government’s handling of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has been a “complete disaster”, The Indian Express reported.
In an interview to the newspaper, Gandhi said that the government ignored warnings of a second wave flagged by sero-surveys, the Opposition and a Parliamentary committee on Covid-19, which had submitted a 120-page report on the actions to be taken. The Congress leader accused the government of not strengthening the health infrastructure by adding hospital beds or provisioning for medicines.
“They have failed on every single front and yet, even as their political opponent, I don’t feel a sense of retribution,” Gandhi said, according to The Indian Express. “I feel deeply, deeply saddened and very angry at what they have done – or more accurately not done...Lives are being lost because those in charge didn’t get their priorities right.”
On Congress’ role
The Congress chief said that her party had a two-fold role to play in the prevailing situation. She said that the party needed to “insist upon transparency and accountability” from the government, while at the same time use its network to pool in resources to help the patients.
“Our role as an Opposition to listen to people and to convey their anguish becomes all the more imperative,” Gandhi said. “We have to put as much pressure as possible on the government to act even now.”
Gandhi said she was saddened at the “contemptuous response” from the Bharatiya Janata Party government on suggestions made by her, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. “We believe that fighting Covid is not a ‘you versus us’ battle but is a ‘us versus corona’ battle,” she added.
On new vaccination policy
Gandhi reiterated the Opposition’s criticism of the new vaccination policy that will come into effect from May 1, pointing out that India is caught in a “one nation and five vaccine prices” situation. The Congress president accused the Centre of being a “mute spectator” to vaccine manufacturers indulging in profiteering and said that the government’s approach suggests that it is complicit in the process.
“Our own citizens will pay more than the price of export of vaccine from India to other countries...How can this be justified?” Gandhi told The Indian Express. “How can differential pricing be accepted? Government of India should have borne the cost of the entire vaccination and provided it free to all citizens.”
On April 19, the health ministry said that vaccine manufacturers will now have to allot 50% of the doses produced to the Centre. The manufacturers will be allowed to sell the remaining 50% to state governments and private organisations in the open market.
Soon after, the Serum Institute of India said that it will sell its Covishield vaccine to states at Rs 400 per shot and at Rs 600 per shot to private hospitals. Bharat Biotech set the price of its Covaxin shot at Rs 600 per jab for state governments and Rs 1,200 for private hospitals. However, the Centre will continue to procure its share of vaccines at Rs 150 per shot from both the manufacturers.
The Centre’s quota of vaccines is used to inoculate those above 45 years of age, free of cost. The state governments raised objections against differential pricing of vaccines and on having to procure the shots at open market prices to inoculate those in the age group of 18-45.
On immediate actions to be taken
Speaking on the matters that need to be addressed immediately, Gandhi pointed out that a parliamentary panel had in November suggested to the Centre to ramp up hospital beds and oxygen production. She said that the government should divert all resources towards supplying oxygen to hospitals across the country.
“We produce 7,500 metric tonnes of oxygen per day...We have enough oxygen to meet our need,” she said. “So will the government tell us the reason for the current scarcity of oxygen?”
Gandhi also advised the Centre to bring together the resources of government and industry to increase the number of hospital beds, adding that number of Covid beds had declined in the country since January.
She proposed that the government should allocate a family income support of Rs 6,000 for the poor and provide safe transportation of migrant labour from cities by special trains and other means.
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