Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri on Tuesday questioned the ‘meagre’ allocation of ₹3,000 crore for the fight against COVID-19 and asked why the State government was not prepared beforehand to handle the crisis.
In a statement, Mr. Alagiri said the Kerala government has allocated ₹20,000 crore, the Centre ₹15,000 crore to take measures against the outbreak of COVID-19 and for relief measures. “The Tamil Nadu government has allocated ₹3,000 crore. With such a small allocation, it is a big question mark whether this Edappadi K. Palaniswami government can save the 7 crore citizens of the State who have been locked down in their homes with fear,” Mr. Alagiri said.
He also questioned the Chief Minister over the State’s alleged lack of preparedness to tackle the spread of the virus. “The health department in the State has just 2,100 ventilators. The Coronavirus’ spread has been looming for the past three months. But only yesterday (Monday), Mr. Palaniswami announced that efforts are underway to import 2,500 ventilators, 25 lakh N-95 masks from abroad. There can be nothing else so irresponsible than this delay,” he said.
Mr. Alagiri further said Mr. Palaniswami should remember that the AIADMK won just over 1% votes more than the opposition parties in the State in the last elections. “Mr. Palaniswami has said there is no need for an all-party meet to discuss COVID-19 measures. He must know that the ruling party and opposition are two sides of the same coin. How did Mr. Palaniswami get the courage to act in a dictatorial manner? We strongly condemn his statement,” he said.
