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Round The States
New Delhi, 15 May
2021
Bodies In Ganges
NOT JUST
BIHAR’S CONCERN
By Insaf
No dignity in death,
an expression that too shall illustrate India’s second wave of the pandemic.
This week, the depressing pictures of dead bodies of Covid patients lined up at
crematoria or burial grounds got a worse addition. Bodies floating on Ganges banks
in Bihar’s Buxar district
came as a horrendous shock to authorities and residents. At least 71 bodies
were fished out here and some bodies have been found floating near the Gulabi
Ghat in Patna.The total count is anybody’s guess. The present should make
authorities realizethat it’s not just a system failure to tackle the pandemic
and save lives, but to ensure the dead are not deprived of last rites. More importantly,
this is not the time of a blame game, which has erupted with its neighbourUttar
Pradesh.Bihar has accused the latter of dumping bodies, saying one, these have
floated down from Varanasi, Allahabad, etc and two, the State’s tradition is to
burn a body and not consign it to water. UP has refuted the accusation.
However, it finds human corpses floating now in the holy river in Ballia, Ghazipur
districts, 50-odd bodies at Bharauli, Ujiyar, and Kulhadia ghats in Narahi
area. The two States should instead add another item on its Must Do list:
Offer affordable cremation facilities. A wooden pyre is said to cost Rs
8000-odd in normal course, which now is doubled. Can the poor be faulted to use
the Ganges as an option? States along the Ganga being advised by Centre to have
‘strict vigilance’ and prevent people from dumping bodies in the water, is not
enough.
* * * * * *
Goa Covid
Deaths
Famed
tourist destination, Goa, no longer can continue to bask in this glory. It must
change priorities —from fancy beach resorts and restaurants to building medical
infrastructure. Shockingly, this week alone, 75 Covid patients died in
government-run Goa Medical College, due
to oxygen supply: “logistical issues involved in maneuvering the tractor which
carries the trolleys of oxygen and in connecting the cylinders to the manifold
(group of large gas cylinders).” Did the BJP-ruled State and its bureaucracy
not see the writing on the wall? Have the deaths, 26 on Tuesday and another 21
on Wednesday, 15 on Thursday and 13 on Friday last shaken off its complacency?
Opposition Congress it’s not just leadership failure but a one-upmanship tussle
between Chief Minister Sawant and Health Minister Rane. Sawant set up a
3-member panel last month to supervise Covid-19 cases in government hospitals,
without involving Rane. Though CM assured the public ‘State had 100% oxygen’,
why couldn’t his team ensure patients got cylinders on time? Hearing PILs on
GMC tragedy, the Bombay HC, told the administration “to find out ways and means
to overcome these logistical issues so that precious life is not lost on
account of any deficiencies in the matter of supply of oxygen to patients.”
Sooner than later.
* * * * * *
Change of
Guard In Assam
Assam
has overcome its share of power struggle. Installing a new leadership despite
BJP retaining power for the 2nd term, did raise many an eyebrow.
HimantaBiswaSarma, eventually took oath on Monday last as the 15th
Chief Minister, replacing SarbanandaSonowal, who had led the party and Mitrajot’
alliance of AGP and UPPL to an impressive victory. Why, is the big question?
Locals opine: Sarma had cultivated national leadership, his shrewd and
aggressive nature particularly gelled with Modi and Shah and ‘upper’ caste
background tilted the scales against Sonowal, who though had a successful
inning, was a tribal, sober and not as savvy. The State impasse of who should
be top man was resolved by New Delhi. And while Sarma can be happy achieving
his dream of becoming the CM finally, he needs to deliver: checking spread of
Covid, revival of NRC and providing jobs. Remember, Rs 17000 crore was spent on
NRC exercise. Where will he get funds for his aim for ‘re-verification’ of the
published list? How will he fulfil poll promise of creating 1 crore jobs, when
1 lakh posts are lying vacant in the Secretariat since past 5 years? Wonder
whether his plan to pursue “ideals and values” of Modi to take State to new
heights, will work!
* * * * * *
Rumblings In UP
It’s a classic case
of adding insult to injury. If the Allahabad High Court’s scathing rap was not
enough, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has his party MLAs/MPs joining the
chorus on mishandling of the pandemic.
The HC has asked the government to rethink, raise amount of compensation to
polling officers who died of covid during panchayat poll duty from Rs 30 lakhs,
to at least Rs 1 crore. Earlier, it observed the government, had failed to
fathom the disastrous impact of these polls. Infection has reached villages and
how will people be treated when urban areas have failed. The inimitable Yogi
may have contested this, but his own brood of BJP legislators are raising
concerns, written to him over hospital beds’ shortage as they are getting SOS
calls in their constituencies, 4 MLAs have died and some lost their relatives. Worse, authorities aren’t cooperating, forcing
Yogi to pay visits to hospitals and having his ministers to exude confidence
the situation is improving. Is it? Yogi will do well to remember the famous
quote: You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of
the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
* * * * * *
Determined Farmers
Never give up! Yes,
the farmers at the Delhi borders relentlessly focus on their mission, despite
the second wave of Covid having completely overshadowed their protest against
the three farm laws. With many still continue to head towards Tikri and Singhu
sites, the Sanyunkt Kisan Morcha leaders have set another task—prepare for
Covid emergencies. While adherence to Covid protocols is being regularly
announced, a makeshift hospital at Singhu border has been set up and availability
of oxygen cylinders and concentrators underway. A team of doctors is at the
site to attend to people falling sick, area sprayed with sanitizer etc and
appeal to activists to refrain from coming for a couple of weeks, as the
numbers shouldn’t go beyond 10,000. Interestingly, the next round of Assembly
polls in 2022, specially in UP, is on the radar. A roadmap is under way to
launch a campaign against the ruling-BJP and have leaders move there after
lifting of lockdown. Guess, the Centre has underestimated the farmers, like the
handling of the pandemic.
* * * * * *
Buses Now Ambulances
Mini buses converted
into ambulances! What an idea. It comes from Haryana’s Jhajjar district,
enhancing Indian’s capacity for juggar (ingenuity). Lack of
infrastructure and miserable handling of rising number of covid cases in the
State has had the Bus Depot of Haryana State Transport here to convert five of
its mini buses into ambulances for Covid patients. The buses, sent from Narnaul
and Panipat depots, have been equipped with four beds each, stretchers,
sanitisers, and PPE kits, following instructions by the State transport
director. Oxygen facility is to be added soon. The initiative interestingly
comes after official realised that every resource must be tapped by departments
to manage the crisis. Since last year, Jhajjar’s official figures of covid
cases is 13,491, of which 11,886 have recovered and 144 died. But with the
second wave, situation has worsened. The bus experiment is on lines of 20
police vehicles earlier being converted into ambulances and handed by the
district police to the health department. Guess, other than appreciation, the
idea should hit the road in other States too. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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