Telangana needs to conduct more Covid tests

Hyderabad: The all party delegation on Thursday has demanded that the State government take up Covid-19 tests on a large scale to detect the cases and to take further steps to prevent the spread of the virus.

PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Telangana Telugu Desam president L Ramana, Telangana Jana Samithi president M Kodandaram and Communist Party of India state secretary Ch Venkat Reddy met Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and submitted a memorandum in this regard.

They wanted the government to address various issues being faced by the people due to the lockdown. Members of the delegation said that the Covid tests in the State were quite less and they should be taken on a large scale.

While the Telangana state has conducted 19,000 tests, the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh has completed 88,000 tests. A small state like Delhi has done 43,370 tests, Rajasthan - 92,506, Haryana - 26,148 tests, Kerala - 24,000, and Odisha 27,000 tests.

The total Covid-19 tests per million people for the whole country stood at 637 while in Telangana, it was 531. Apart from this, at least 13 lakh families who have white ration cards were yet to receive Rs 1500 financial support.

The 10 lakh BPL families who have applied for white ration card for have also not received the cash and rice which was announced by the government.

They alleged that the State government merged the 5 kg rice scheme of Central government into the State government scheme of 12 kg and deprived the people of the State the assistance being provided by the Centre. They requested the state government to supply better quality rice.

The all party delegation said that Corona relief measures for migrant workers have to be taken on a large scale. Adequate food and shelters have to be provided to them. Arrangements should be made to send them to their native places.

Members of the delegation alleged that due to the negligence of the government, farmers suffered damage of grain due to untimely rains.