COVID vaccination: LG Anil Baijal seeks report from Delhi Chief Secy after GNCTD Act comes into force

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday sought a report from Chief Secretary Vijay Dev on the city`s preparedness for the vaccination of people above 18 years of age against COVID-19.

New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal on Thursday (April 29) sought a report from Chief Secretary Vijay Dev on the city's preparedness for the vaccination of people above 18 years of age against COVID-19. Baijal took this step after the GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2021, which stated that the Delhi "government" means the LG, came into force.

A notification in this regard was issued recently by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and the provisions of the Act came into effect on April 27. Anil Baijal's office also created a Twitter handle -- @RajNiwasDelhi -- saying it will share official announcements, press releases, reactions and other useful information for the residents of the national capital.

About the next phase of the vaccination drive, the Raj Niwas tweeted: "Hon'ble Lt Governor has sought a report from the Chief Secretary on the preparedness for the roll out of the vaccination program for people above 18 yrs of age."

In another tweet, the LG Secretariat said Baijal was not aware of the government's recent order setting up a COVID care facility at a private hotel for judges, responding to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Rajesh Gupta's April 27 tweet, in which he had alleged that the LG had set up the facility.

The LG office tweeted, "Leave apart taking the decision, Hon'ble Lt Governor was unaware of the order till much after its issue. That the Hon'ble CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal has also been tagged in the tweet, denigrating the Constitutional Office of Lt Governor is unfortunate." Earlier this week, the government withdrew the order.

The MHA notification issued on April 27 seals the primacy given to the LG, a nominee of the Centre, in the Act. The Delhi government will now have to take the LG's permission before taking any action over the subjects that are under its domain. According to the legislation, the "government" in Delhi now means the "Lieutenant Governor".

According to the notification signed by the Additional Secretary in the MHA, Govind Mohan, "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021 (15 of 2021), the central government hereby appoints April 27, 2021 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force." 

The Act has been notified at a time when the Centre and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government are at loggerheads over the handling of the pandemic and the subsequent scarcity of oxygen, hospital beds and essential medicines in the national capital.

The Delhi High Court too came down heavily on the AAP government over its "failure" to check black-marketing of oxygen cylinders and crucial medicines needed by COVID-19 patients. 

Notably, the national capital on Thursday recorded 395 deaths due to coronavirus, the highest since the pandemic began a year ago, and 24,235 cases with a positivity rate of 32.82 per cent. This was the eighth day in a row that Delhi has recorded over 300 deaths due to COVID-19.

A bulletin issued by the Delhi health department reported 368 deaths on Wednesday, 381 on Tuesday, 380 on Monday, 350 on Sunday, 357 deaths on Saturday, 348 on Friday and 306 on last Thursday.

Delhi had recorded 25,986 cases on Wednesday, 24,149 on Tuesday, 20,201 on Monday, 22,933 on Sunday, 24,103 on Saturday, 24,331 on Friday and 26,169 on Thursday. The positivity rate was 31.76 per cent on Wednesday, 32.72 per cent on Tuesday, 35.02 per cent on Monday, 30.21 per cent on Sunday, 32.27 per cent on Saturday, 32.43 per cent on Friday, and 36.24 per cent on last Thursday which is the highest so far.

The cumulative case count in the city stands at 11,22,286, of which over 10.08 lakh have recovered. The death toll due to the viral disease stands at 15,772, the bulletin said.

According to the bulletin, the city currently has 97,977 active cases. Out of 21,152 beds in city hospitals, only 1,628 are vacant. A total of 53,440 patients are in home isolation, 

A total of 31,761 vaccine doses were administered to people in a day and they included 15,589 who took the first dose and 16,172 who received the second shot, the bulletin added.

(With Agency Inputs)