BENGALURU: On the first day of the legislative session that started from Monday, the Council witnessed a heated exchange between Congress legislators and the BJP members after Health Minister B Sriramulu sought a week’s time to respond to a question on measures taken to fight the pandemic.While Sriramulu and Floor Leader in the Council Kota Srinivas Poojary maintained that the opposition members have sought details about each taluk and they need time to get those details, Opposition Leader S R Patil questioned why so much time is required when the same issue has been discussed since the last six months.
Poojary managed to convince the Opposition to give more time to the health minister after assuring them of providing a “convincing response” by this weekend. However, the House again witnessed arguments between the two sides after Sriramulu responded to a question on procurement of equipment. “We have followed all the guidelines issued by the Centre while purchasing equipment,” he said, while responding to Congress MLC M Narayanaswamy’s question seeking details about the purchases.
He said, in the initial phase after the first Covid death was reported in Kalaburagi, there was a huge demand for equipment, but there were hardly any suppliers. The state government had to procure equipment from authorised firms in many other states and even countries, including China, to overcome the shortage. Ruling out any irregularities in the purchase of PPE kits, ventilators, masks and other equipment, the minister said, a number of committees looked into different aspects of the purchases.
Not satisfied by the minister’s response, Narayanaswamy questioned why the cost of ventilators purchased by the state government was so high, ranging from Rs 5.60 lakh to over Rs 18 lakh, while the Central government procured them at Rs 4 lakh. He said a former BJP MLA has filed a complaint with Lokayukta stating that 15 ventilators supplied by a firm were broken, tampered with and were used for five years. As other Congress MLCs joined him in taking on the government, it led to a verbal volley of words between the ruling and Opposition members.Defending the government, Poojary and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said they are ready for a debate whenever it is taken up.