Telangana, Central govts should adopt 'Mumbai model' to curb COVID spread: Sravan Dosaju

All India Congress Committee (AICC) national spokesperson Sravan Dasoju on Saturday appealed to the Telangana and Central governments to adopt the 'Mumbai Model' for COVID-19 management, by setting up task forces at the ward, Municipal Corporation and state level so as to curb COVID spread.

Speaking to ANI, Dosaju said that despite the Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai explaining for several days how the city curtailed the spread of the virus, both the state and Central governments have not adopted the model to save the lives of people.

"Iqbal Singh Chahal, the Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai, for several days now has been explaining the way they overcame and curtailed the spread of the Corona in a large city like Mumbai. Despite this, both the Telangana and Indian Government have not taken any steps to persuade and implement it across the state or country," Dosaju said.

Reacting to Rao's decision not to impose a lockdown in the state, Sravan said, "To contol the spread of Corona, two things must be done - vaccinating and lockdown. Vaccination is a mirage for the people of Telangana and CM KCR says that lockdown would effect the state's economic growth."

"Is he trying to build the economy on the dead bodies of the people of Telangana?" he asked.

He further praised the Mumbai model for controlling the spread of Covid-19, saying that it 'stands on the rooftop'.

Further speaking, he said that despite sharing borders with Maharashtra, Telangana has failed to adopt the Mumbai Model and asked how many people have to succumb to the virus.

"People are not being provided with beds, oxygen and medicine. They are not even having adequate space in burial grounds after death. The Telangana Government is trying to downplay the number of Covid cases and deaths in the state. In the Gandhi Hospital and TIMS, there are about 200 to 300 people dying," he said.

He further said that the number of Covid tests that are being conducted in Telangana has also been reduced from over 1 lakh tests per day to about 60,000.

"In neighboring states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu, free treatment is being provided to Covid patients while in Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who promised to provide free treatment to Covid patients, has not fulfilled this promise for the last eight months. Political interests are paramount and not the lives of the people of the state," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )