Release white paper on performance in managing COVID-19: Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru, Apr 19: Targeting the BJP government in Karnataka for its management of the COVID-19 pandemic, leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah on Monday demanded that it bring out a white paper regarding its performance.
The senior Congress leader, in a series of tweets, also alleged that there was "complete chaos and confusion" in the state as Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has no control over his ministers or MLAs.
"The BJP government in Karnataka should release a white paper about their initiatives and performance in managing the pandemic, instead of just framing new rules, regulations and restrictions on the public," Siddaramaiah tweeted.
The BJP MLAs and Ministers are openly flouting the rules of their own government, he alleged.
The LoP said that Yediyurappa has no control over his ministers or MLAs, resulting in "complete chaos and confusion" in the state.
Siddaramaiah's attack comes a day ahead of a virtual meeting with floor leaders of both houses of the state legislature on April 20, to be presided over by Governor Vajubhai Vala to discuss the COVID-19 situation, amid a spike in cases.
Noting that second wave of coronavirus is worsening day- by-day, Siddaramaiah said that the government, unable to control it, stood exposed in front of the people and was making futile efforts "to hide its failures."
"There is no bed for coronavirus patients at government hospitals..People cannot afford private hospitals, there is no oxygen stock and there is shortage of life saving Remdesivir drug," he said,
The Chief Minister is in hospital (for COVID-19 treatment) and the government is in the ICU, he said.
The government should have prepared for the second wave from its experience during the last one year, the former Chief Minister said and alleged that the BJP government "that used corona for corruption," has given up.
Chief Minister Yediyurappa, who has been infected by COVID-19 for a second time in eight months, is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar has urged the government to earmark Rs 30,000 crore for the health sector, in the wake of the rapid spread of the second wave of the infection.
Pointing to non-availability of beds, ICUs and shortage of Remdesivir and oxygen, he suggested that the government immediately stop developmental activities as the situation was worsening, and use that amount to control the pandemic.
"Necessary steps have to be taken on a war footing," he said.
Advising the government to effectively utilise medical colleges, doctors and health workers in the state, Shivakumar said everyone should be provided treatment free of cost.
The state had on Sunday seen the biggest ever spike of 19,067 new COVID cases and 81 deaths, taking the total number of infections to 11,61,065 and the toll to 13,351
The Total number of active cases stood at 1,33,543.
Out of 19,067 new cases on Sunday 12,793 were from Bengaluru alone.
.@BJP4Karnataka government should release a White paper about their initiatives and performance in managing the pandemic instead of just framing new rules, regulations and restrictions to the public.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 19, 2021
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.@BJP4Karnataka government ministers and BJP MLAs are openly flouting the rules of their own govt.@BSYBJP has no control over his ministers or MLAs. This has resulted in the complete chaos & confusion in the State.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 19, 2021
2/2
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
