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As Delhi gasps for breath with lack of oxygen supply and over burdened health facilities, the Chief Minister appears to be more interested in blame game than providing relief to the people. Breaching the established protocol Arvind Kejriwal made his interaction on Covid-19 with Prime Minister Modi a public affair by telecasting the meeting live. It was deliberately done to prove that Delhi was suffering due to Centre’s step motherly attitude and that the state government should not be blamed for the catastrophe. He even accused neighbouring states of not allowing the trucks carrying oxygen cylinders to enter Delhi. Expectedly, for his deeds the Delhi Chief Minister has become a subject of public ridicule since then. It is learnt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his dissatisfaction over Kejriwal’s conduct. The moment the Prime Minister came to know about the live telecast, he admonished the Delhi Chief Minister. Interrupting Kejriwal, the Prime Minister reminded him about the established protocol and accused the AAP chief of violating it. Modi further termed it inappropriate and urged everyone to be cautious about maintaining the protocols. In response, the Delhi Chief Minister meekly apologised to the Prime Minister and promised to be careful in the future.
In fact, the effort to hide the failures has boomeranged on the Delhi Chief Minister. It is quite perplexing to know that the government which has spent INR 835 crores in the last two years for publicity alone did not have requisite funds to establish even one Oxygen producing plant. Although, it was known to all that Oxygen support is a must for critical Covid-19 patients, the state is dependent on others for Oxygen, and did not make any effort to store enough cylinders for emergency purposes. The Delhi Government under the leadership of Kejriwal did not think it fit to plug the loopholes in the health sector which the first wave of this lethal virus mercilessly exposed. In its own wisdom, the Delhi Government did not utilise the time between the first and the second wave to enhance its health facilities. At the same time, the rate of vaccination in Delhi is not very encouraging.
All this together has turned Delhi into a graveyard in wake of the second wave of Covid-19. People are virtually dying without treatment. Since the second wave started the number of people that have lost their lives can be judged from the fact that crematoriums and graveyards are not being able to dispose dead bodies for days, forcing people to arrange mass cremation in makeshift crematoriums. The much-touted Mohalla Clinics, which were listed as a major success in the health sector during the first five-year rule of Kejriwal, have just vanished. The clinics at the grass root level have miserably failed to test, detect and isolate Covid-19 infected people. It is not true that the State Government did not have enough funds or time to prepare itself to combat the pandemic. On the contrary, it lacked the will to do so. This is why 30.2 million lives are in danger now.