Mysore/Mysuru: Taking Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha to task for seeking details of amount spent on COVID management from Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rohini Sindhuri, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Spokesperson M. Lakshman has urged the MP to give account of the money spent by the State Government on Corona management since March last year.

Talking to media at Congress Bhavan here yesterday, he said that the DC, reacting to Simha’s demand, has given details of Rs. 41 crore released to Mysuru district from the State Government. If the MP has guts, let him demand the State Government the details of amount spent on COVID management in the last one-and-a-half years. The Government has not bothered to give reply to over two dozen letters written to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on total amount spent on COVID management. No supporting documents have been released by the Government on spending Rs. 9,000 crore on COVID management since March 2020.

MCC Commissioner or DC must clarify

Lakshman urged Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Shilpa Nag or the DC to clarify whether the statement of K.R. Nagar MLA S.R. Mahesh that 969 persons have died in Mysuru district from May 1 to 30, this year, was right or wrong. 

It seems that the District Administration was trying to hide the number of deaths daily. According to Congress sources, around one lakh people have succumbed to this virus during the second wave in all 31 districts in State. 

Instead of attacking the DC, MP Simha must pressurise the DC and the MCC Commissioner to come out with the exact number of people who have died of Corona. It appears that they might have received instructions from the Union Government to conceal Corona deaths.

Probe by SC Judge

He wanted a probe by a sitting Judge of Supreme Court (SC) to find out the total Corona-related deaths in the country as the Union Government was trying to mislead people by showing less death. 

A well-researched article in The New York Times had estimated 7 crore infected and 42 lakh death in the country since March last year. However, the Government has been denying the media reports. 

Lakshman claimed that 2,073 ventilators allotted to the State under PM CARES were not functioning on arrival. Under this circumstances, how  was it possible to install them in Government Hospitals, he wondered.