K’taka Cong to protest discrimination against poor in COVID treatment

PTI, Jun 26, 2020, 7:58 AM IST

Bengaluru: The Congress in Karnataka on Thursday, June 25 threatened to launch a protest on June 29 against the alleged discrimination against the poor in coronavirus treatment.
“A situation has come when we have to get out on to the streets to protect the people.

Maintaining social distancing, we will stage a demonstration on June 29,” state Congress chief D K Shivakumar said at a press conference in the party-state headquarters.

He was critical about the recent price cap on the treatment of coronavirus in private hospitals ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000.

“Already battered economically due to the coronavirus related lockdown, the government has put a cap on the treatment of patients in private hospitals ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000. How will people bring money for their treatment?” Shivakumar asked.

He wondered why the government was discriminating against the poor as if they brought the pandemic to India.

“Have poor people brought this disease in India? Why are they punished?” Shivakumar questioned.

The Congress state chief asked the Centre and the state government to utilise funds donated by the big corporates to the PM CARES and CM Relief Fund to deal with the pandemic.

Shivakumar was also opposed to converting the Kumara Krupa Guest House into a treatment centre for public representatives and senior officials and insisted that everyone should be treated equally.

“The package government has announced has not yet reached the poor people and they don’t have access to the information about these packages and beneficiaries,” the Congress leader claimed.

He alleged that the government was playing with the future of children with respect to starting academic activities and said some children were getting education through online classes while many others are not.

“The party has decided to observe silence from 11 am to 12 noon on Friday to pay homage to the soldiers who were recently killed during the clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley,” Shivakumar said.

He accused the centre of misleading people regarding the situation in Galwan.