Mandya: The Mandya District COVID review meeting held at the ZP Hall here on Friday turned out into a verbal duel between District Minister K.C. Narayanagowda and JD(S) legislators of district.

Soon as the meeting began, Srirangapatna JD(S) MLA Ravindra Srikantaiah with the backing of fellow party legislators, accused the Government and officials of failing to provide beds for COVID affected and to check the rapid spread of the deadly virus. 

District Minister K.C. Narayanagowda sought two days time to rectify the lapses. MP Sumalatha too appealed for a free and fair discussion on the issue. But an unheeding JD(S) Legislators continued with their tirade against the Government, without allowing for a discussion, following which an upset Sumalatha left the meeting midway.

MLA Ravindra Sreekanataiah wanted to know what the Karnataka Government and 25 BJP MPs of the State were doing for the benefit of the poor at a time when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had announced a Rs. 4,000 financial assistance to every poor family in that State, just hours after he assumed office as the CM on Friday.

MIMS Director Dr. Harish said that the Institute should have got 7 KL of oxygen from Ballari by now. But there has been a delay in delivery and this is the reason for the delay in the commissioning of 150 oxygenated beds at the Hospital. He assured that necessary measures will be taken to ensure that there are no problems concerning the available oxygen beds.

Later, Ravindra and Malavalli MLA Annadani took K.C. Narayanagowda to task for giving false information regarding the number of available oxygen beds and oxygen supplies to the district. They also charged the BJP Government of failing to check the spread of the virus by taking appropriate and effective measures. Responding to the charges, the Minister assured of addressing oxygen bed issues in a couple of days. Maintaining that he had been successful in getting 350 Jumbo cylinders from Mysuru, Narayangowda questioned the attitude of JD(S) leaders, who were repeatedly targeting him.

Claiming that Mandya district had recorded 50 COVID deaths in the last one  week, the JD(S) legislators alleged that the district was facing a shortage of Remdesivir injections and the Government had failed in timely delivery of this vital injection. 

They urged the District Minister to ensure that there is no shortage of this injection and also address the issue of oxygen supplies by taking up the case with the Government. They also alleged that officials had failed in ensuring that those under home isolation stayed indoors at least until the specified period.

Earlier, the meeting also saw an altercation between MP Sumalatha and MLA Ravindra over the issue of oxygen supplies to the district. Contending that Maharashtra was diverting oxygen supplies meant for Karnataka, Ravindra wanted to know what our MPs are doing when the State is facing a severe oxygen crisis. MP Sumalatha said that she has written a letter to the Prime Minister and she was ready to read it out at the meeting. Ravindra maintained that there was no point in writing to the PM now as the second wave of COVID is reaching its peak.