The battle against Covid-19 just got tougher in Karnataka as the elected representatives have taken to political mudslinging. The transfer of the 121 accused in the Padarayanapura violence (on Covid-19 health workers) from Bengaluru to the neighbouring Ramanagara district jail, has triggered a political slugfest.
The state government, on April 22, shifted the 121 accused to Ramanagara jail, after shifting out its inmates to Bengaluru Central jail in Parappana Agrahara. The opposition parties slammed the government for putting Ramanagara, a green zone for Covid-19, at stake, stating the accused came from the red zone.
As luck would have it, five out of the 121 persons tested Covid-19 positive during the screening at Ramanagara jail, calling for mass quarantine of not just the accused, but also the jail authorities, the frontline workers like bus drivers who drove them to the prison and the policemen who escorted the buses.
With the locals and the elected representatives demanding the state government to shift the accused out of the district immediately, the government shifted the five Covid positive persons to Victoria Hospital and the remaining 116 (now the primary contacts) to Haj Bhavan in Bengaluru for public quarantine.
"Is it a Tuglaq durbar? The government has no clue how to manage the situation and Bengaluru has already turned into a red zone. This seems to be a conspiracy to infect Ramanagara, a green zone. I wonder who advises the government. I had urged them to accommodate the accused from Padarayanapura in any hostel within Bengaluru or shift them confined to the Covid hospital (Victoria)," slammed former chief minister and Channapatna MLA H.D. Kumaraswamy.
Seconding her husband, Ramanagara MLA Anitha Kumaraswamy alleged that it was indeed a "conspiracy" against her district.
A furious Kumaraswamy even cast aspersions on DGP (Prisons) Alok Mohan saying the latter had settled a personal score by wrongly advising the government to shift the accused. "The police officer holds a grudge against me for not appointing him as the Bengaluru commissioner when I was the CM."
A senior police officer clarified that the decision to shift the accused was taken only because the Bengaluru jail was crowded. "Parappana Agrahara has 5,000 odd prisoners. The Ramanagara jail is smaller. So, we shifted its 177 inmates to Bengaluru to make room for the 121 accused in the Padarayanapura incident, who are in judicial custody," said the police officer.
KPCC president and Kanakapura MLA D.K. Shivakumar and his younger brother Bengaluru Rural MP D.K.Suresh joined the chorus to criticise the government move. "We extended all support to the government to fight Covid. But we will not tolerate such irresponsible behaviour of the government that has put the Ramanagara district at high risk," said Shivakumar.
Deputy chief minister Dr Ashwathnarayan dismissed all the conspiracy theories stating it was unbecoming of senior leaders like Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar to be making such "unsavoury" statements.
"It is an unusual situation and the government takes decisions based on the circumstances. We tested the accused for Covid -19 and have now shifted them back to a quarantine facility in Bengaluru. There has been no lapse from our end. There is a huge community of frontline workers fighting the deadly virus. The leaders should continue to support all our efforts," urged Dr Ashwathnarayan.
Meanwhile, the Padarayanapura (ward no 135 of the Bengaluru city corporation), which turned into a hotspot for Covid-19 after five persons linked to Nizamuddin event tested positive, earned disrepute following the vandalism and attack on doctors. On April 19, when health authorities landed in the locality to shift the primary contacts of the confirmed cases to public quarantine, hundreds of locals went berserk, attacked health workers and the police and vandalised the police check post and barricades erected for sealing down the containment zone. At least four FIRs were filed and 121 arrested by the JJ Nagar police station.
This time, the positive cases among the accused has once again created panic and compelled a large number of frontline workers, including the police from JJ Nagar police station and the health personnel and residents of the ward, to go into quarantine.
"The Ramanagara jail staff and around 19 prisoners will also be quarantined," said Ashwathnarayan.
