Congress To Submit Memos For Free Vaccination

Congress in charge of the Telangana unit of the party, MP Manickam Tagore, and TPCC chief MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today called upon the DCCs in the state and asked the bodies to submit memorandums to the relevant district Collectors by tomorrow, demanding that the district officials immediately take steps to launch a universal free vaccination drive.

Addressing the DCC presidents and other senior Congress leaders at a virtual meeting, the two leaders said that the party was undertaking this program, of demanding the launch of the free immunisation drive, at a nationwide scale.

They added that it was being conducted on the instructions of the AICC, and that a memorandum would also be submitted to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan in Hyderabad on behalf of the TPCC as part of the same tomorrow. The DCC officials were asked to prepare the memorandums "in the name of the President of India".

Apart from this, it was stated the Congress was demanding that steps be taken by the Centre to ensure that at least one crore persons be vaccinated daily.

At the meeting, Tagore and Reddy also criticised the BJP-led Centre and the TRS-led state government for allegedly having failed to control the Covid-19 pandemic in India and Telangana respectively, and alleged, "The BJP government at the Centre has not been able to devise any effective strategies through which to control the current pandemic. It has supplied vaccines to other countries without taking into account the requirements of its own people. It is now clear that the only way to control the surge of cases in India is to vaccinate all. That is why our party has been demanding that a universal free vaccination initiative be launched at once and that it be completed on a war footing."

"Only 4% of the Indian population have been given both doses of the vaccine so far. Keeping the virulent nature of this pandemic in mind, the Congress strongly demands that all those above 18 be immunised free of cost," they added.

Further, they informed the officials present at the meeting that a Satyagraha Deeksha would be held at the Gandhi Bhavan and across the various DCC offices on June 7, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, to demand that free treatment be provided to Covid-19 and black fungus patients at the private hospitals of the state.

"Cases of Covid-19 and black fungus are rising at an alarming rate in Telangana. Even in this situation, the private hospitals have been charging lakhs of rupees for the treatment of both ailments. How is the common man supposed to afford treatment? Free treatment must be provided to all Covid patients. The state government should recover the excess amounts collected by the private hospitals as per the directions of the Telangana High Court, and then reimburse patients with the recovered funds," both leaders asserted.

CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka also lashed out at Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for "going back on his word" of adding Covid-19 to the list of the illnesses covered by the Arogyasri healthcare scheme, and alleged that the private hospitals of the state had become "a mafia" and were looting the people with impunity.

MLC T Jeevan Reddy and TPCC working president A Revanth Reddy echoed these remarks. Revanth Reddy went further and accused minister K T Rama Rao of "hoarding" Covid-19 medication under the guise of supplying them to those looking for the same through social media, and of selling them instead. He said that a complaint needed to be made to the Governor on the issue since it was a crime.

Meanwhile, Uttam Kumar Reddy today extended financial aid of Rs 1 lakh to the family of Shabbir, an employee working at the Gandhi Bhavan, after he succumbed to Covid-19.

The MP reportedly said that more financial help would be extended to the family and that the party would provide employment to a member of Shabbir's family at the Gandhi Bhavan or help the family member find appropriate employment elsewhere. He also visited the residence of the deceased employee and handed over the aid amount to his kin. He conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family, and said that Shabbir had been a sincere employee for a long time and that his demise had plunged the Congress office into a pall of gloom.