Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao rules out lockdown, says it cripples public life and economy

Making it clear again that lockdown will not be imposed in Telangana, CM K Chandrasekhar Rao stated such a move would bring life to a standstill and would lead to total collapse of the economy.

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Hyderabad: At a time when most of the states are imposing lockdown during to rising numbers in covid-19 cases, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) has emphatically said that lockdown would not be imposed in the state. He added that imposition of lockdown would bring hardships to many and lead to total collapse of the financial system.

"There is no use of imposing lockdown. Since Telangana is the most happening state in the country, 25 to 30 Lakh workers from other states are here working. We have seen how their lives were adversely impacted by the lockdown we imposed during the first wave. If they are dislocated, they will not come back. Moreover, there is bumper yield of the Paddy in the State. Paddy is stocked in 6144 procurement centres in the state and they are weighing the Paddy. However, we will identify the areas where the cases are more and declare them as Micro level Containment zones and take the required measures," the CM said at the high-level review meeting on COVID-19 held at his residence in Hyderabad today late in the evening.

This was the first major decision taken by KCR after he recovered from COVID-19 infection. Also, the Chief Minister himself is holding the Health Ministry currently after he sacked former minister Etala Rajender.

KCR also spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone about the supply of the required vaccines, Oxygen and Remdesivir and urged him to supply the same immediately. The CM also brought to the notice of the PM that the Oxygen supplies allocated to the state from Sriperambadur in Tamil Nadu and Bellary in Karnataka have not been supplied so far.

Since Hyderabad became a medical hub, people from the bordering states are also depending on Hyderabad for medical treatment. The CM said as on date there is availability of 440 MT of Oxygen per day and added that it should be increased to 500 MT per day. The availability of Remdesivir is only 4900 and it should be increased to 25000. He said the Centre so far provided only 50 Lakh doses of vaccine and it should also be increased based on the needs of the state. The CM requested the PM to ensure the supply of 2 to 2.5 Lakh doses of vaccine per day and it should be supplied immediately.

Meanwhile, on the request made by the CM and instructions from the PM, Union Minister Sri Piyush Goyal spoke to the CM. Piyush Goyal assured the CM that all the requests made by the CM would be fulfilled and action would be taken to supply adequate quantities of vaccine, Oxygen and Remdesivir would be supplied to the State. The union minister said Oxygen would be supplied from the Eastern states instead of TN and Karnataka states.

Earlier, the CM held a high-level review meeting at Pragathi Bhavan here on Thursday on the situation arising out of the rising number of Covid-19 cases. 

As on date 9500 beds with Oxygen are available in Government hospitals and 5000 more will be be added within a week all over the state. 

The CM also instructed the Chief Secretary to make arrangements to airlift 12 Cryogenic tankers from China for the better Oxygen supply at a cost of Rs one crore each.

5980 Covid outpatient centres are created all over Telangana in PHCs, community hospitals, area hospitals. The officials disclosed that so far 1.56 Lakh positive cases were reported and of this 1.30 Lakh 85 per cent have recovered. 

COVID medical Kits for every household

The Telangana government is also supplying Covid Kits all over the said. The COVID Kits would be provided through Asha workers and ANMs. Along with the medicines, there will be pamphlet on the precautions to be taken for the curtailment of Corona.