BENGALURU: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said the Centre has agreed to increase the number of Covid vaccines supplied to the State to one crore doses per month from August.
“We now get around 65 lakh doses and we have asked for 1.5 crore doses, which will allow us to administer around 5 lakh doses a day. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya agreed to increase the supplies to one crore doses from August and take it up further later,” Bommai said here on Saturday.
Union govt will release GST dues, says Bommai
Bommai met Mandaviya in New Delhi earlier in the day. The Union minister also told Bommai that the guidelines to prevent the Covid third wave will be issued soon. Bommai said the Centre has agreed to sanction Rs 800 crore for the development of health infrastructure, like ICU, oxygen supply and medicines to prevent the third wave.
It is part of the Centre’s Covid emergency fund of Rs 23,000 crore to states, he added. After meeting Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, Bommai said the Centre has agreed to release last year’s pending GST compensation of Rs 11,400 crore in installments, at the earliest.
Along with the timely release of regular compensation this year, Sitharaman also agreed to sanction a Rs 18,000 loan to the state. Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah in Mysuru said, “How will Bommai bring the state’s share when Yediyurappa, a born BJP man, could not succeed in getting the dues from the Centre? Will it be possible for a man who has gone from the Janata Dal to do it?”