Telangana CM KCR, Akbaruddin Owaisi spar over Covid relief measures

Hyderabad: It was a rare situation where AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has a spar over coronavirus on the floor of the Assembly on Wednesday.

Participating in the short discussion on Covid-19 situation in the state, Akbaruddin Owaisi felt that while the agenda said that it was a short discussion on corona and its impact, but the statement of the Health minister reads like a health bulletin.

He wanted to know why the government had not shown seriousness in dealing with the subject on the floor of the House. He wanted to know whether the pandemic had affected the economy or not? Whether it had hit the livelihood of the people or not? Whether it had affected socially or not? Whether it had affected the administration or not? Whether agriculture, trade and other sections were affected or not and whether the academic year was affected or not? Owaisi said the government has been claiming that it had taken a lot of relief activities like distribution of ration to the affected people. It stated in the past that it had provided helping hand to migrant labour and many other such measures but the statement did not mention even a word about it. This made the Chief Minister to take control of the situation in the form of intervention. KCR said that Covid is a worldwide phenomenon and not confined to Telangana.

The virus had exposed the poor state of health infrastructure across the country. He refuted the allegations of the Opposition that the state government had neglected the crisis which resulted in surge in the cases in the State.

Telangana was the only State that recognised the services of corona warriors and announced incentives for them, he said, adding that the government despite the dwindling revenues purchased every single grain from the farmers of the State. "We opposed procurement of grain in mandis with the Union government due to the threat of spread of Covid and saw to it that paddy was procured from the villages," he said.

KCR said the state government had taken unparalleled proactive measures and was ahead of the Centre in helping the affected. It had demarcated containment zones even before the lockdown was imposed. It had sent migrant labour to their respective States at government expenditure besides providing succour to the poor in the State in the form of cash and essentials, he said.

The Chief Minister said the Centre had not helped the state as it should have during the pandemic. But still the government had done much better than other states. He said the government was even considering increasing budget for medical and health to tackle future emergencies. Explaining why he did not convene an all-party meeting on the issue, the CM said he felt that it would not serve any purpose since they have pre-conceived notions that government had failed though situation was far better than other states. Referring to demolition of Osmania Hospital, he said a decision would be taken after the court verdict.

He added that the government was reviewing the Mudra loans offered by the Centre to see whether the State can tap some loans for the street vendors, and small time merchants affected by the prolonged lockdown.