KCR rules out lockdown in Telangana, says it cripples public life, economy

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Thursday clarified that lockdown would not be imposed in state as it would bring life to a standstill and lead to total collapse of financial system

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) on Thursday clarified that lockdown would not be imposed in the state as it would bring life to a standstill and lead to the total collapse of the financial system.

Rao took this decision after examining states where lockdowns were in place and positive cases did not come down, along with past experiences.

"There is no use of imposing lockdown. 25 to 30 Lakh workers from other states are working here. We have seen how their lives were adversely impacted by the lockdown during the first wave," he said.

He further mentioned the 'bumper yield' of the paddy in the State which is stocked in 6,144 procurement centres in the state.

"Purchasing Paddy is not a simple process. There is a chain system involved from bottom to the top. What will happen to the workers who came from other states and are working in the rice mills? If the Paddy is not purchased where will the farmer go?" he explained.

Earlier on Thursday, the Chief Minister also spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone about the supply of required vaccines, oxygen and Remdesivir and urged him to supply the same immediately and brought to notice that oxygen allocated to the state from Sriperumbudur (Tamil Nadu) and Bellary (Karnataka) had not been supplied so far.

Rao explained that since people from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka were coming to Hyderabad for treatment, the burden on the city's healthcare infrastructure had increased.

The Chief Minister further informed that the allocation of 440 MT of oxygen to the state per day should be increased 500 MT per day. The availability of Remdesivir is only 4,900 and should be increased to 25,000, he said.

He said the Centre had so far given only 50 lakh doses of the vaccine and it should also be increased based on the needs of the state. He requested PM Modi to ensure the immediate supply of 2 to 2.5 lakh doses of vaccine per day.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal also spoke to the Chief Minister and assured that all requests would be fulfilled.

At a high-level COVID-review meeting at Pragathi Bhavan, the CM made an in-depth review on the pandemic situation with regards to bed availability, and other necessary medical supplies.

He informed that there are currently 9,500 beds with oxygen in government hospitals and wanted 5,000 more to be added within a week all over the state. He also instructed the Chief Secretary to make arrangements to airlift 12 cryogenic tankers from China for better oxygen supply at a cost of Rs 1 crore each.

He added that 5,980 Covid outpatient centres had been created all over the state in PHCs, community hospitals and area hospitals. He further instructed Principal Secretary (Finance) Ramakrishna Rao to release the funds required for the medical and health department immediately.

As per the union health minister, there are currently 77,127 active cases in the state. A total of 3,96,042 recoveries and 2,579 deaths have been reported so far.