Do not communalise Covid, says Uttam Reddy
President of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday said that the coronavirus pandemic should not be given communal colour and expressed deep concern over attempts being made some to target a particular community.
Interacting with Congress workers on Facebook, Mr Reddy said it was wrong on the part of a section of the media to portray a particular community in bad light and blame them for the spread of coronavirus in the country.
The Lok Sabha member from Nalgonda alleged that the TRS-led government has failed miserably in providing help to the poor during the lockdown which was now nearly two weeks old. He condemned the K. Chandrashekar Rao-led government for “slow pace of distribution” of promised 12 kgs of free rice among holders of white ration card.
Mr Reddy said that out of nearly 87 lakh white ration cardholders in the state, as of now, only 22 lakh families have received rice. Asking the state government to hasten up the process of rice distribution, he said the Congress would meet the Governor on the issue if authorities don’t complete process of rice distribution in next two days.
The TPCC president said that distribution of rice and cash among migrant workers was not being carried out in a proper manner. He said that a majority of migrant workers were yet to get the promised 10 kgs of rice and `500 cash. Mr Reddy expressed concern over less number of tests being conducted by the government for Covid suspects.
He said that over 25,000 people per suspect have been quarantined or kept on vigil. The number of samples tested so far is too low although Mr Rao spoke about increasing number of testing labs.
He said that more Covid19 suspects should be tested on time to establish whether or not they were suffering from the coronavirus disease and those found positive could be treated quickly. He condemned the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department and the GHMC for imposing a ban on distributing of food, rice and other items by NGOs and philanthropic individuals and asked the civic body not to create hurdles in measures aimed at helping poor people.
The state Congress chief asked all district unit presidents and other party leaders to keep the control room informed about their activities in respective areas. He advised them to form dedicated WhatsApp groups at district level for better coordination so they could help needy people in an effective manner.