On behalf of the Khairatabad Congress Committee, national AICC spokesperson Dasoju Sravan today launched a free Covid-19 mask distribution program at Hyderabad's Panjagutta crossroads.
Speaking on the occasion, he said, "This program has been initiated on the occasion of May Day as per the instructions of national INC chief Smt Sonia Gandhi to provide support to the people who are in desperate need of help. It is a shame that the Centre and the state government have both failed to contain the deadly pandemic."
In a subsequent media address, the Congress spokesperson also announced that aside from launching the mask distribution program, the party had set up a Covid-19 control room at the Gandhi Bhavan and a toll-free helpline, that could be reached by calling 040-24601254, in order to support people requiring any sort of help through the ongoing second wave.
Elaborating further, he said, "Through the control room, we aim to help those in need find hospital beds, ventilators, oxygen, masks, and Remdesivir injections among other critical Covid-19 support facilities, as the state government has not been able to address the public health emergency in any meaningful way."
Sravan also criticized the TRS government for its "poor management" of the pandemic in Telangana, and charged, "There are not enough beds in our hospitals. No oxygen is available and the scarcity of life-saving drugs is posing a great threat to all the Covid-19 patients in Telangana. The government, meanwhile, is not even in a position to distribute free masks to the people. Our Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, is a modern-day Nero, always sitting at the Pragathi Bhavan. Even now, he is more interested in the internal politics of his party than in equipping the state's health sector to save lives. The people of Telangana are not interested in petty politics. They are in desperate need of effective governance and support during these challenging times. However, KCR is least bothered about the welfare of the people, who have been adversely affected by the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19. His government is not even recruiting any new healthcare workers to increase the availability of treatment facilities for patients."
He then demanded that the government immediately fill all the vacant government job posts, including those of doctors, nurses and healthcare support staff, on a priority, and that it include Covid-19 in the list of diseases covered by the state's Arogyasri healthcare scheme to support the public.
(The Congress has been demanding that the treatment of Covid-19 be subsidised under the scheme for some time now. The Telangana unit of the NSUI, which is the student wing of the Congress, and Congress MLA from the Mulugu constituency Seethakka had even launched a
fast unto death at Hyderabad's Indira Park to demand the same, last month.)
TPCC working president Ponnam Prabhakar, who was the Chief Guest and Somajiguda Congress head Narikella Naresh were among those who attended the program. They, along with other party leaders and workers, distributed thousands of free Covid-19 masks to the people.
Prabhakar, who spoke at the program, alleged that all the Covid-19 deaths in the state were government murders, and slammed the Centre and the KCR government for their "negligent attitude" towards the pandemic.