State: Andhra Pradesh
By Bolisetty Satyanarayana*
I raise my objections on the Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s statement where his said: “We are getting blamed for the issues not in our hands. We are giving ex-gratia of Rs. 10 lakhs per head who died due oxygen problem in Tirupati Ruia Hospital.”
The Chief Minister and his officers are responsible to ensure that tanker carrying Oxygen from Sriperambadur to Tirupati Ruia Hospital should reach in time without any hurdles en route, this is the job of the Government officers. The Oxygen tanker left from Sriperambadur at 11am should have reached by 2 pm whereas it reached at 7 pm. If the delay of 5 hours had been avoided with proper coordination, the tragedy of losing 11 precious lives (though the attendees of the Covid patients said there are around 26 people died), could have been averted. The patients had died at Sri Venkateswara Ramnarain Ruia Government General Hospital on Monday evening. The CM and his officers have to take the blame for this delay.
I ask the CM that when 5 Oxygen plants were sanctioned fully funded by PM Care why only one plant has been established in last 4 months? This plant construction time is only 45 days and if the Chief Minister was keen, he could have ensured installation of all 5 oxygen plants by March itself. This would have saved lives of many Covid-19 patients. It is a pity that our Chief Minister, his Ministers and MLAs are more keen in winning the elections for Local Bodies than protecting the lives of the people during the deadly 2nd wave of Covid.
I urge the Chief Minister to suspend the irresponsible officers so as to prevent recurrence of this kind of incidents especially during this Covid Emergency.
Further, I suggest the Chief Minister, we must learn from Rajendra Bharud, Collector, Nandurbar, Maharashtra who could make his district Oxygen surplus by taking proper cautions from January 2020. Today Nandurbar is the district with surplus oxygen cylinders and that has contributed towards preempting the severity of the 2nd wave of Corona without requiring any additional fund from the State or from the Centre.
In this hour of emergency, when people are falling prey to the deadly Corona, I implore the Chief Minister to bring in efficient officers who are in the loop line posts and give them the tasks during the need of this hour.
*The writer is a social and environmental activist and General Secretary of Janasena Party, Andhra Pradesh. Views expressed are personal
