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COVID-19 situation in UP 'almost explosive': Priyanka Gandhi

The government is pushing people towards death, says the Congress leader

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi | PTI Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi | PTI

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has issued a statement on the “almost explosive” COVID-19 situation in Uttar Pradesh on a day that the state’s chief minister and many bureaucrats tested positive for the virus. 

Vadra interacted with party advisers, MLAs, members of the state committee and divisional office bearers of the party earlier in the day to issue the evening statement which said that news coming from the state was very sad and heart rendering. The party, she said, had a duty to question the government on the status and that it would not fail the people in this duty. She had, after Yogi Adityanath tweeted about his positive COVID-19 report, extended her wishes to him for a speedy recovery. 

Her statement said that had the government concentrated on improving health facilities from day one and not on obfuscating numbers, this situation would never have arrived. 

On Tuesday, a letter written by Brijesh Pathak, the state’s minister for law, had called into question the lack of medical facilities in the capital Lucknow and had warned that if due attention was not paid, the state would need another lockdown. 

Vadra blamed the government of not having a plan in place. “The people of the state are facing a double-edged sword,” she said—in the form of the coronavirus and the failed, insensitive and irresponsible system in the state. “The CM is still only interested in image”, she said. 

“The government is pushing people towards death,” she said, drawing attention to the fact that while between April 5 and 11 the nation had seen a 70 per cent rise in COVID-19 cases, the state had seen a 281 per cent rise. Of the 24 `crore people in the state, not even one crore had been vaccinated as yet. 

The statement also offers 11 suggestions to the state government. Among those is that private pathologies should be given permission to test at defined rates (Currently the pathology labs in Lucknow are charging Rs 900 for a test). She has also asked for a simple procedure to get admitted in hospitals. There are almost no available hospital beds in government institutions in Lucknow while private ones are already saturated. 

Vadra also suggested that Remdesivir injections be made available in requisite quantities in all districts. 

The UP government on Wednesday sent a state aircraft to get 25,000 doses of the injection from Ahmedabad.

Vadra also asked for an economic package to help the disadvantaged and adequate arrangements for the cremation/burial of those who die of the infection. In Lucknow, the crematoriums have run out of wood and it is being brought in from the neighbouring districts.  

She also asked for an emergency ramping of the vaccination drive so that more people could receive it.

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