THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Defending his personal security officers who have been accused of beating up Youth Congress workers during the Nava Kerala Sadas in Alappuzha, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the assembly on Monday that such an incident did not come to his notice.
He said a few youth organisations were trying to attack his vehicle from the very beginning of the programme.
“There were no police actions against any democratically organised protests. Security officers engaging in assault during such protests hasn’t come to my notice,” the chief minister said.
He justified the actions of his security officers yet again, citing a police advisory on the handling of emergency situations. “Personal security officers have the responsibility to ensure my security as per the advisory issued by the state police chief on June 2, 2021,” Pinarayi said.
According to him, an attacking mob moving towards the cavalcade of the chief minister and other ministers, who have been accorded high security, was one such situation where the guards had to block the mob and ensure security. He was responding to a starred question raised by UDF MLAs Uma Thomas, K Babu, T Siddique and T J Saneesh Kumar Joseph.
Despite notices being served, the CM’s gunman Anil Kumar and security official S Sandeep, who are accused of assault, did not appear at the Alappuzha South police station on the day. They were present at the assembly as part of escort duty. The incident in question happened near the General Hospital in Alappuzha on December 15. The CM also said that he did not notice male police officers roughed up women protesters and tore their clothes during the protest. Responding to another question, he however said the police cannot hit protesters on their head with lathis.
Health minister denies shortage of medicines
Health Minister Veena George denied any disruption in medicine distribution to government hospitals after the Opposition UDF raised the issue in the assembly on Monday. She said that the demand for government hospital services has increased and several hospitals have exceeded 125% of their indent. Besides, the demand for drugs in non-essential categories has also increased as more hospitals have started super-speciality services, she said. “Hospitals with less than 30% stock will get the next batch of medicines from warehouses using the drug distribution system. In case of shortage, steps have been taken to provide medicines through Karunya pharmacy, other local purchases and through various schemes, she said.”
Assembly session cut short
Setting the tone for the 10th session of the state assembly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan engaged in a heated exchange at the business advisory committee (BAC) meeting on the very first day the session convened after the governor’s policy address. The BAC meeting on Monday decided to cut short the session by February 15, after passing the vote on account. The session was originally scheduled till March 27. Though the Opposition wanted the session to be rescheduled in view of the Congress’s political campaign, the government turned it down. The Opposition’s demand to prepone the state budget to February 2 and hold budget discussion on February 5-7 was also rejected.