Keeping in view the increasing Covid positive cases in both the country and Odisha, the Congress on Thursday came down heavily on the Modi Government at the Centre for creating the mess in the country as hospitals are running out of beds, patients dying without oxygen and essential medicines are not available.
Addressing a Press Conference here, former State Finance Minister Panchanan Kanungo and party spokespersons Manoranjan Das and Prashanat Satpathy posed 10 questions to the Modi Government.
The leaders asked that when corona was limited to Maharashtra, how it spread across the country. Isn’t it because of open election campaigns and because of Kumbh Mmela? Are the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Uttarakhand CM not responsible for this as they were responsible for permitting the Mela, they questioned.
Secondly, when the country was on the verge of a second wave of Covid-19 and despite all warnings, why the Union Government allowed export of 9,294 MT of oxygen? This has obviously created a situation in which people are dying for shortage of oxygen cylinders in hospitals, the Congress leaders said.
They wanted to know from the Modi Government about at least six months’ vaccine requirement and what plan the Government has to distribute vaccines equally among the States. They also sought an answer from Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan about meeting Odisha’s vaccine requirement.
The Congress leaders also wanted to know from the Union Government as to what strategy it has in place for the welfare of the migrant labourers during the pandemic. Is there any plan to protect them in their destination States, they asked.
The leaders also expressed concern over the rising unemployment and posed a series of questions to the Modi Government. “Has the Government ever thought of bailing out the economy from the shambles of the Covid pandemic?”