Friday, 02 October 2020 | Gajendra Singh Negi| Dehradun
Namo beckoning
The online pat on the back given by the Prime Minister Namo to the Uttarakhand chief minister during a recent programme organised to dedicate six mega projects under Namami Gange mission has come as a shot in arm for TSR. The PM was particularly impressed by the state government’s scheme to provide drinking water connection on a nominal charge of Re 1. In recent times, TSR was increasingly being cornered by his detractors both within the saffron party and outside it and questions were being asked on his leadership capabilities. To compound things further the MLAs were getting restless with the proposed cabinet expansion getting inordinately delayed and there were signs of discontent among the ministers particularly those with Congress background on the subject of obstinate bureaucracy. However by showing full faith in TSR, the PM has given a clear message to everyone that the central leadership of the saffron party is standing firmly behind the CM. With assembly elections not very far it seems certain that the BJP has made up its mind to go into the hustings in the Himalayan state under the leadership of TSR.
Mischievous misconception
Under duress from the patient count of Covid-19 spiralling out of control in the state and particularly in the provisional state capital, the Babus seem to have fallen back to the tried and tested formula of stifling the source of information itself. In this endeavour a propaganda campaign was unleashed against the private labs and an assumption was created that these labs were tweaking test results of Covid-19 for their commercial gains. The administration swooped down on some of the labs and banned them from testing swab samples of suspected patients. One cannot rule out black sheep among the private labs but it is wrong to paint everyone in the same colour. The contention that higher numbers of samples are being labelled positive by private labs as compared to their government counterparts seems incorrect because most of the samples tested by private labs are of symptomatic patients with the government labs bearing burden of mass testing in containment zones and trace sample testing where percentage of positive cases would be less. The authorities should understand that more and more testing is one of the keys to prevent the contagion from spreading further and the situation warrants that the all available resources (both government and private) should be augmented, optimised and judiciously used in the fight against the deadly virus.
In Isolation
Even as the union and state governments have virtually lifted all restrictions imposed to contain the contagion of Covid-19 and decided to open almost everything including educational institutes in the coming days, the Babus in Himalayan state continue to remain isolated in their sanctuary of the state secretariat. The centre of power in the state was made out of bounds for the visitors and media following a few incidents of Covid-19 among the secretariat employees. One understands that safety should be kept on highest priority at the time when the pandemic of Covid-19 has engulfed all parts of the state but it is also a fact that for democracy to function properly the centre of governance cannot operate in a self imposed isolation for long.
