Don’t Dive Communal Colour To Corona Pandemic: Uttam

· TPCC Chief condemns slow pace of rice distribution for poor

Hyderabad, Apr 5 (Maxim News): TPCC President Uttam Kumar Reddy said Coronavirus pandemic should not be given communal colour and expressed deep concern over attempts being made by a few to target a particular community.

Interacting with Congress party workers on social media platform Facebook on Sunday, Uttam Kumar Reddy said it was wrong on the part of a section of media to highlight a particular community in bad light blaming them for the spread of Coronavirus in the country. He said that the Coronavirus was an epidemic and it has been affecting and killing people irrespective of their region, religion, sex or caste. Therefore, he said all Indians need to fight against the Coronavirus unitedly.

Uttam Kumar Reddy appealed to all leaders and workers to act like soldiers to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and take all steps to help the poor and needy affected due to lockdown. He asked them to cooperate and coordinate with the authorities in all relief operations. He informed that a Control Room has been established at Gandhi Bhavan to monitor the relief works being carried out by Congress leaders across Telangana State. He said the Control Room has been functioning from 8 am to 8 pm on all days. He asked all DCC Presidents and other leaders could keep the Control Room informed about their activities in their respective areas. He also advised them to form dedicated WhatsApp Groups at district level for better coordination so that they could help the needy people in an effective manner. He asked them to share the information about their relief activities on social media.

The TPCC Chief said Control Rooms were also being established at district-level. So far, he said Control Rooms have been set in 19 out of 33 districts and they are functioning from 9 am to 6 pm every day. He instructed the party leaders to establish Control Rooms in remaining districts at the earliest. He said that the Congress party and its cadre need to play the role of a constructive opposition during the ongoing crisis. Besides identifying the administrative lapses, the Congress workers need to extend help in whatever form possible to the poor and needy.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the State Government has failed to provide any help to the poor despite the lockdown completing nearly two weeks. He condemned the TRS Government for the slow pace of distribution of promised free 12 kg rice among white ration card holders. He said of nearly 87 lakh White Ration Card holders, as of now, only 22 lakh families got the rice. Asking the State Government to hasten up the process of rice distribution, he said that the Congress party would meet the Governor on the issue if the authorities to complete the process of rice distribution in the next two days. Similarly, he said the process of giving Rs. 1500 per family has not been initiated. He said that the amount was too small and it should’ve reach the poor by this time.

The TPCC President said that the distribution of rice and cash among migrant workers was not being carried out in a proper manner. He said a majority of migrant workers were yet to get the promised 10 kg rice and Rs. 500 cash.

He said that the Chief Minister had announced that Rs. 30,000 crore have been earmarked for the procurement of paddy and maize. He asked the Congress leaders to keep an eye on the process of procurement of agricultural produce to ensure that farmers are paid the Minimum Support Prices and they do not face any inconvenience.

Uttam Kumar Reddy also expressed concern over less number of tests being conducted by the government for Coronavirus suspects. He said over 25,000 people/suspects have been quarantined or kept on vigil. However, the number of samples tested so far is too low although the Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao spoke about increasing the number of testing labs in the State. He said more number of suspects should be tested on time to establish whether or not they were suffering from Coronavirus and those found positive could be treated as per norms. He also condemned the GHMC for imposing a ban on distributing of food, rice and other items by NGOs and individuals and asked the civic body not to create hurdles in measures aimed at helping the poor. However, he instructed the Congress leaders and workers to take all precautions and ensure social distancing at every stage. (Maxim News)