Congress for cash transfer to all Covid patients' kin in Delhi

The Congress on Tuesday slammed the AAP government in the national capital and demanded that Rs 10,000 cash be immediately transferred to the families of the coronavirus patients.

The Congress made the demand at an all-party meeting called by Lt Governor Anil Baijal.

"Cash transfer of Rs 10,000 should be immediately made to the accounts of each Covid-19 affected family in Delhi to help them survive the financial and health crisis," Delhi Congress chief Chaudhary Anil Kumar said during the meeting.

The Congress leader also suggested that the same financial assistance be extended to all such families living in containment zones as they are also going through severe financial crisis.

In the first all-party meeting convened by the Lt. Governor after the pandemic hit the Capital early March this year, Ch. Anil Kumar pointed out that since the virus cases have started to spike after June 3, Delhi has been testing fewer people every day, which is a very dangerous situation.

He said Delhi has completely failed on the testing front.

The Congress leader said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been advising the people to go for "home quarantine" as the AAP national convenor was far removed from the prevailing conditions in the Capital.

"Kejriwal's unilateral decisions without consulting experts and the Covid warriors have contributed to the increase in the number of patients," he said.

"As a result, Delhi has witnessed a sudden spike in the positive cases with the death rate also going up sharply," he said.

Kumar demanded the Delhi government shared the data of contact-tracing and isolations done in Delhi with the public.

He also requested the Lt. Governor to waive the fixed power charges on commercial meters and demanded that the report of the Dr Mahesh Sharma committee on the Covid-19 pandemic be put in public domain.

The Congress leader suggested that to prevent crowding at hospitals, tele-consultation facilities should be provided to all Covid-19 positive patients free of cost.

Targeting the Chief Minister over Delhi government hospital beds being reserved for Delhiites, he said this has raked up "outsiders vs Delhiites" controversy.

"It has made people believe that they are being deprived of hospital facilities because of outsiders," he said, adding that information should be shared about availability of beds in hospitals and the government app should be strengthened to provide accurate real-time information to prevent people from running from hospital to hospital.

He said a centralised call centre should be established to provide information about bed vacancy in hospitals.

( With inputs from IANS )