Hyderabad, April 26: Former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Monday demanded that the State Government give clarity on reports/rumours of imposition of total lockdown in Telangana State from the first week of May.
Shabbir Ali, in a media statement, said that the State Government has miserably failed to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in Telangana. “Record number of fresh cases and deaths are being reported every day and the situation is going out of control with every passing hour. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has failed to foresee the outbreak of the second wave although the first wave and subsequent lockdown completely shattered the State’s economy. When almost all affected countries witnessed the second, third and even fourth wave of Covid-19, why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM KCR failed to foresee a similar situation in the country, including Telangana? They did nothing in the last one year and today we are losing thousands of our citizens to Covid-19,” he said.
The Congress leader said that the BJP Govt at the Centre was reportedly planning to impose a total lockdown from 2nd or 3rd May. Although PM Modi has clearly started that lockdown should be the last resort, people cannot trust his words.
Similarly, CM KCR, Health Minister Eatala Rajender and other officials have been making claims that there would be no night curfew in Telangana. But the night curfew was imposed without giving any advance notice. Therefore, he demanded that the State Government consult the Centre to get clarity on the proposed lockdown. “The Central and State Govt should give clarity to the people on the lockdown. In order to avoid panic, the government should mention clearly if it proposes to impose any lockdown,” he said adding that people, especially the poor and middle-class will get some time to prepare themselves for the situation.
He said migrant labourers have already started leaving for their native places. This will impact agriculture, production and other industries. Therefore, the government should clarify whether or not it was imposing a lockdown.
Further, Shabbir Ali welcomed the remarks made by the Madras High Court on the Election Commission of India holding it responsible for the second wave of Covid-19. He said that the High Court has rightly observed that EC officials could be booked for the murder of people who got infected with Covid-19. He said the same observation was applicable for the Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC), which is adamant about holding municipal elections at the peak of the second wave of Covid-19.
He said that the TSEC was acting under the pressure of CM KCR and the ruling TRS party and it was not willing to postpone the elections to a later date. “Congress leader K. Jana Reddy is all set to win the Nagarjuna Sagar by-elections. Therefore, TRS fears that it would lose any elections held after May 2. For the same reason, it was forcing the TSEC to conduct civic polls on April 30. TRS will be remembered in history for building a political empire on human corpses. People will also remember TSEC officials not as independent individuals, but puppets into the hands of ruling TRS,” he said.
Shabbir Ali also demanded that the State Government include Covid-19 treatment in the Aarogyasri Scheme. Further, he said that the State Government should provide 100% reimbursement to patients who already got treatment for Covid-19 in private hospitals.