New Delhi, Nov 19 The all-party meeting convened on Thursday by the Delhi government to prevent the spread of Coronavirus erupted in a war of words with the Congress and the BJP accusing the Delhi government of negligence and inaction.
The meeting was attended by Delhi's Chief Minister, Deputy Chief minister and health minister, besides BJP state president Aadesh Gupta and Delhi Pradesh Congress president Anil Chaudhary.
In the meeting, the Congress vehemently opposed the re-closure of Delhi's markets. According to the Congress , it is not correct to close the markets for another lockdown. This will also create a crisis of employment for millions of people besides the losses to the business community.
Delhi BJP state president Adesh Gupta said, "After eight months, you've remembered to convene an all-party meeting. The Delhi government could not do a number of things it was supposed to do during the pandemic. This was clear in the pace at which the number of ICU beds were increased and testing done. The health department of the government could not do contact tracing at all. The people who are living in home-isolation did not get adequate facilities. You spent Rs 125 crores on advertisements in six months, but you did not increase the number of ICU beds. You did not increase ventilators in Delhi. Had the Delhi government taken timely steps, so many deaths from Corona in Delhi could have been prevented."
Anil Chaudhary added, "Chhat is a great festival of faith for the people of Purvanchal. Delhi needs the blessings of the Chhat Goddess at the time of infection. I urge the Delhi government to put a review petition in the High Court keeping in view the religious sentiments of people and allow them to celebrate the festival on the ghaats."
BJP MP from Delhi and former state president Manoj Tiwari said, "The Delhi government is showing double standards on Corona."
Responding to the Opposition's charges, Sanjay Singh, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP from Delhi said, "Whatever the government is doing in Delhi is being done in accordance with the guidelines set by the central government."
Through the meeting, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told all political parties that there is no proposal to close any market in Delhi at present. Nor is the government going for a re-lockdown. Before taking any such steps market associations and shopkeepers will be will be taken into confidence.
At the same time, the chief minister admitted that there is a shortage of ICU beds in Delhi which is being addressed in tandem with various agencies. Kejriwal appealed to all opposition parties not to do politics over Covid.
( With inputs from IANS )
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