NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday blamed the Delhi government for the worsening of Covid-19 situation in the national capital, stating that no effective preventive steps were taken to contain the infection.
The ruling AAP, in turn, termed the charges as unfortunate and asked the Centre to stop playing “dirty politics” and instead cooperate with the state government in fighting the pandemic.
In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the Centre said the AAP government was lax in containing the pandemic, increasing the strain on medical infrastructure.
It listed the 10 states that contribute “almost 77 per cent of the active caseload” in the country, with Delhi (8.5 per cent) standing on the third position after Maharashtra (18.9 per cent) and Kerala (14.7 per cent).
It said that “despite repeated exhortations” in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases, the Delhi government did not take steps to enhance testing capacity, particularly for RT-PCR, which remained static at around 20,000 for a long time.
Proper containment measures were not taken, the affidavit stated. It further stated that despite being aware that the confluence of winter, festival season and pollution was likely to cause a surge in cases, strict and timely enforcement of measures wasn’t done.
“While there were regular advertisements on achievements of the Delhi government, including on dengue prevention and control, no ads on Covid-appropriate behaviour were to be seen.”
The Centre added that the high-powered VK Paul Committee had recommended that Delhi should plan for a surge of about 15,000 cases per day and so provide for about 6,500 ICU beds, but the Kejriwal government “didn’t take any timely measures to increase ICU beds, causing a sudden pressure on health and medical infrastructure”.
