Kamal Nath pans MP govt's handling of COVID-19 crisis; cites dire conditions in hospitals

On Thursday, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath hit out at the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government for the prevailing COVID-19 situation in Madhya Pradesh. According to him, the BJP government had failed in its preparations despite repeated alarms about the impending second novel coronavirus face. In a dig at Chouhan, Nath claimed that there was a scarcity of medicines, injections, oxygen, ambulances and beds in every hospital in MP. Moreover, he accused the BJP government of suppressing the number of COVID-19 deaths. 

Leader of Opposition in MP AssembIy Kamal Nath remarked, "I advise him (CM) to take helicopter and visit each district. I'll lend my full support as per my capabilities. I've spoken to injection companies to increase MP's quota." Currently, there are 92,773 active novel coronavirus cases in MP while 4,39,968 patients have been discharged and 5424 deaths have been reported. Earlier in the day, the MP government decided to extend the 'corona curfew' imposed in many parts in the state till May 7.

MP High Court puts the onus on Centre

In an important development earlier, the MP High Court has pinned the responsibility of hindrance free supply of oxygen to states on the Union government. The division bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Atul Sreedharan was hearing a bunch of pleas pertaining to the COVID-19 crisis on Monday. During the hearing, High Court Advocates' Bar Association president Manoj Sharma highlighted an incident that took place recently where an oxygen tanker headed towards Sagar in MP was stopped by UP Police and diverted towards Jhansi. While acknowledging that the tanker was eventually released, he added the delivery of oxygen to hospitals in Sagar was delayed by 15 hours.

The court noted with alarm that such an incident can lead to chaos as regular oxygen supply is linked to saving lives. Furthermore, it sought the response of the Union government on the steps it will take to ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future. The HC stated, "In the opinion of this Court, it is the responsibility of the Central Government, which is allocating the quota of Oxygen to various States, to get its directives complied and ensure seamless and hindrance free supply of Oxygen to the destined places involving inter-state movement".