The Telangana High Court today grilled the TRS-led state government over the implementation of Covid-19 safety and prevention guidelines in the state.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy asked the government why the latter was not imposing any restrictions on bars, pubs and
film theatres, and expressed serious displeasure over the "low number" of RTPCR tests being conducted in the state.
The bench suggested that the government set up vaccination centres in every district to vaccinate people faster to curb the spread of the disease, and faulted it for not carrying out a round-the-clock inoculation program.
Pointing out that the government had been focusing more on the conduct of rapid detection tests, Kohli and Reddy said that RTPCR tests accounted for less than 10% of the total tests being conducted in Telangana.
Replying to this, Telangana Advocate General B S Prasad, representing the TRS regime, told the state's apex court that the number of tests would be increased gradually.
Angered at this response, the bench then questioned the government about how a gradual hike would help when the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic had already begun, and asked it to increase the number of RTPCR tests immediately. It then asked the government to take steps to prevent the gathering of crowds at bus stands, railway stations, and other shared public spaces.
The TRS regime was also directed to focus on implementing strict guidelines across the orphanages and old-age homes in Telangana.
Further, the court added that the government would be required to submit a report on the number of cases registered by it against the violators of the Covid-19 guidelines within the next 48 hours.
Last month too, the Telangana High Court had pulled up the state's administration for its handling of the pandemic, and had directed the TRS government to
take stringent measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the state.