Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president and Chidambaram Member of Parliament Thol. Thirumavalavan on Monday charged that the steps taken by the Central and State governments in containing the spread of COVID-19 were not satisfactory and that even the statistics relating to the total deaths due to the pandemic are less than the actual fatalities in the country.
Speaking to reporters here after participating in a demonstration, he said that when the mortality rate was low, the Union Government adopted lockdown restriction in different phases. But when there was a spike in the number of patients affected by the disease across the country, there was a relaxation of curbs. This is an utterly unscientific approach in battling the pandemic, he said.
When the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi projected that there was a spike in the number of cases post the lockdown in phases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained mum.
Mr. Thirumavalavan said that instead of battling the pandemic effectively, the State governments were doing fewer tests, and this should be stepped up in the larger interest of public health. He also wanted the Tamil Nadu government to cancel the class 10 SSLC public examinations instead of deferring them, because of the prevailing situation.
The entire Chennai city must be declared as a containment zone and door-to-door testing should be done so that more cases could be identified.
The collection of power tariff from consumers should be deferred for three months, both for the domestic and small-scale units in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, he said.
The VCK leader also wanted the Centre to extend the quota of reservation in medical colleges to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and the point has been projected through agitations by volunteers of the party across the State, he said. The government should also introduce reservation in the private sector, he said.
