BENGALURU: The 10-day session of the Karnataka legislature began on Monday with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot addressing the joint session of the Assembly and the Council. However, the first day was marred by Congress legislators wearing black band as a mark of protest against the government’s handling of the ongoing hijab controversy, among other issues.
In his 45-minute address, Governor Gehlot appreciated the State Government’s handling of the pandemic, the ongoing vaccination drive and various other initiatives taken by it to fight Covid-19. “My government has tried its best to handle and mitigate the adverse impact of Covid -19.
This crisis has been utilised in a positive manner to effectively implement PM Narendra Modi’s concept of Atmanirbhar Bharat by enhancing our capacity and health infrastructure. Notwithstanding the challenges and hardships faced due to the pandemic, my government has successfully managed the same,’’ he said.
The Governor began his speech in Kannada and later switched to Hindi.
He also thanked nurses, doctors, police and other frontline workers and appreciated the government for adopting technology in Covid-19 war room, tele-medicine and patient and home isolation management.
On the vaccination drive, Gehlot said Karnataka has achieved 100 per cent first dose vaccination and 85 per cent of second dose.
He also said that the government managed to cope with the third wave by increasing the oxygen production and it was utilising effectively the emergency Covid-19 response package of Rs 840 crore. He said that Karnataka was in the second place in terms of tele-medicine-based health services in the country under the National Health Mission.