Opposition Corners KCR Govt Over Low Testing As Covid-19 Cases In Telangana Rise

During its first visit to the state last month, a central government team found several discrepancies in the list of actual Covid-19 fatalities in Telangana, as well as in conducting rapid tests.

M.S. Shanker

Updated on: 30 June 2020 1:01 pm

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) has come under attack for his remarks in the state assembly on strategies being adopted to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. The attack came not only from his traditional political opponents, but from medical professionals as well as his party’s ally, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

A video by Dr P Vinay, son of former union minister P Shiv Shankar, a medical practitioner in surgical gastroenterology, in which he can be seen ridiculing the efforts of the KCR government in fighting the pandemic, has gone viral. It has also given ammunition to the Opposition parties.

AIMIM floor leader in the assembly, Akbaruddin Owaisi, on Monday met Health Minister Etela Rajender and urged him to conduct large-scale Covid-19 tests, especially in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), where the cases are spiraling since Unlock 1.0. A majority of assembly constituencies in southern part of GHMC are held by AIMIM. There are several videos of AIMIM legislators clashing with the police of Old City areas, especially the ‘red’ and ‘containment’ zones.

Akbaruddin asked the government to conduct at least 20,000 Covid-19 tests a day in GHMC limits. This comes at a time when the government has put conducting new tests on hold, saying the backlog, which resulted due to inordinate delay in getting test reports from assigned labs, must be cleared first.

During its first visit to the state last month, a central government team found several discrepancies in the list of actual Covid-19 fatalities as well as in conducting rapid tests.

The visiting central team had also expressed its displeasure over poor facilities after visiting some government hospitals on Monday. The team was also apprehensive over the actual figures of Covid cases provided to them by the government. The Opposition also accused KCR government of fudging real covid numbers and not conducting enough tests.

Meanwhile, the single-day spike of Covid-19 cases yet again touched the 950-mark on Monday, though it was a little less than Sunday. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the state reached an alarming 14,000. A visibly upset Chief Minister held a high-level meeting on Sunday and dropped enough hints of a possible re-imposition of ‘lockdown’. Officially, though, the CMO put out a statement claiming the pandemic is well under control in Telangana.