CS Somesh Kumar's statements misleading people: BJP

Hyderabad: The State BJP on Thursday charged State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar for misleading people of the State projecting that the situation of Covid in Telangana is under control and the trend Covid curve is showing a downward trend.

BJP SC Morcha national secretary S Kumar and party State secretary Dr S Prakash Reddy said the situation in Gandhi, King Koti, TIMS and Chest Hospitals was grave, as people could not get beds for admission. Shortage of oxygen, beds, medicines and ventilators was plaguing the hospitals across the State. But, the Chief Secretary was projecting as if everything is normal in Telangana to cover up the shortcomings of the State government, they criticised.

The duo leaders said that the CS had sent a false message to the people claiming as if the Centre has allocated oxygen from Visakhapatnam, Rourkela, Bellary etc in the context of the shortage of oxygen in the State. Dr Prakash Reddy said that in fact the permissions of oxygen and its regulations is vested in the hands of the Telangana State Drug Controller. But the State government did nothing for the past two months, and no one objected to installing oxygen plants in the State, he stated.

'The Centre had in fact come forward after sensing the problems faced by the States in augmenting the oxygen and issued an order on April 27 asking all the public sector undertakings to suspend production of industrial oxygen and convert the same into medical oxygen to save the lives of the people.' In fact, it was at the request of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy that the Telangana was allocated oxygen from Bellary, he informed.

S Kumar and Dr S Prakash Reddy said that for the past one month, the State government has lost track of even how many tankers needed and the quantity of oxygen required for the State. The Centre had pressed into army aircraft to lift the oxygen tankers to cut short of the transport time from Rourkela to Hyderabad. Similarly, the Oxygen Express has been given Green Channel by the railways to bring the oxygen tankers in non-stop trains from Rourkela to Hyderabad, they added.

Even when the tankers reached, the State was not in a position to provide the required number of cylinders to fill oxygen and to supply to the hospitals, Prakash Reddy added.

Negligence of not taking into confidence the Arogyasri hospitals, non-utilisation of the existing medical colleges' services, wastage of vaccine supplied to the State and many others exposes the failure and non-preparedness of the TS in combating the Covid, he pointed out.

Blaming the centre for its own failures has become a fashion to the Telangana government and making such statements blaming the Centre by the CS was unbecoming on his party, said Kumar.