Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Opposition parties led by Congress today questioned the government’s measures taken for containing the spread of Corona virus in the country and demanded that compensation must be given to migrant workers and families of those poor who lost their lives during the lockdown.
Participating in a discussion in Rajya Sabha on the statement given by Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on COVID-19 pandemic, Anand Sharma of Congress said, migrant workers and poor people have to face hardships due to unplanned lockdown. He said, government should inform the house about the rationale behind the sudden announcement of lockdown.
Derek O’Brien of TMC also questioned the government’s move related to the announcement of lockdown without consulting the states. He also criticized the government for suspension of MPLAD funds during this crisis situation. He urged the Centre to work with the State Governments to control the COVID-19 situation.
Ravi Prakash Verma of Samajawadi Party also raised fingers on government’s steps related to lockdown.
Tiruchi Siva of DMK said that 50 lakh people have been affected in India from Corona virus and post-lockdown, the situation has worsened in the country.
K. Keshav Rao of TRS asked the Centre to take states into confidence to tackle the situation arising out after the lockdown.
Elamaram Karim of CPI (M) also expressed his views while questioning the Central government. Manoj Jha of RJD also talked about lockdown and criticized the government’s policies.
Vinay Sahasrabuddhe of BJP listed out the several measures taken by the Central Government to provide relief to common people during lockdown and to protect their health. He questioned the preparedness of the Maharashtra’s Government alleging that the State Government has not been able to provide proper health facilities to people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Sahasrabuddhe talked about the several government measures like Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, Atmanirbhar Bharat and other welfare initiatives which provided relief to people across the country.
RCP Singh of JD (U) objected to the use of word migrant and demanded that it should be immediately stopped as everyone is Indian. Prasanna Acharya of BJD and Swapan Dasgupta also participated in the discussion which remained inconclusive.
yester uesday, while making the statement in the Upper House, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that India has been able to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic having lowest per million cases and per million deaths as compared to other affected countries.
He said that per million cases is 3,320 while death is 55 per million population in the country. He added that India has taken several measures to contain the spread of this virus and effective containment strategies, contact tracing and community surveillance mechanisms were adopted to control this virus.