Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday appealed to the people of Delhi to celebrate Chhath Puja inside their homes, so that they are not exposed to the risk of getting infected by Corona.
In the all-party meeting held on Wednesday, the chief minister said that in the wake of a surge in Corona cases in Delhi, all political parties have agreed to collectively serve the people of Delhi by leaving politics aside in this time of Corona calamity. He also said that non-emergency operations in hospitals across Delhi will be stalled for a few days in the wake of rising Corona cases.
"“The Delhi government allocates a separate budget for this festival to be celebrated in Delhi since we have come into power. But right now, we are going through a pandemic, because of which we are taking this step. Please celebrate Chhath Puja in your home, and do not celebrate it in public water ponds to prevent yourself and your family from getting infected from COVID," he said.
“Experts say the Corona will be transmitted through that water and hundreds of people will get infected. We have only disallowed celebrating Chhath Puja in a public water pond or any water body in the open. We have not disallowed celebrating Chhath Puja. Let's celebrate Chhath Puja by staying indoors,” he said.
The chief minister said that even with a huge spike in Corona cases in Delhi, the doctors, nurses, and all medical fraternity in Delhi are doing a commendable job for the treatment of Corona patients.
Kejriwal said, "To deliberate on the situation related to Corona in Delhi, an all-party meeting was convened today. Some great suggestions were received from all the parties, and we will work on implementing all the suggestions in Delhi. This is a difficult situation for Delhiites when Corona is on a surge and this is not the time to play politics. We have to keep politics, making political statements and remarks, and blaming each other aside, since this is the time to serve the people so that we are able to protect our people from Corona,” he said.
“The coming generations will remember us for our service to the people when Delhi was going through this difficult time. All the parties agreed to serve the people of the country, as Delhiites and as Indians. I am glad that all parties have supported this,” he said.
Delhi has 7461 beds in all the government and private hospitals across the national capital, and around 446 ICUs are available, Kejriwal said, adding that the government has taken many significant decisions to increase the number of ICU beds in Delhi.
“The reservation of non-ICU beds in private hospitals has been increased from 50to 60 per cent for a few days. All non-critical planned surgeries will be stalled or postponed for a few days. We will request the hospitals in this regard. As I said yesterday, we will increase around 663 beds in other Delhi government hospitals in the next few days, and the Central government has assured us an additional 750 beds in the Central government hospitals, which means that we will have around 1413 additional ICU beds in the next few days in Delhi," he said.