The Karnataka government will urge the Centre not to take any hasty decision on the Kerala High Court order directing it to ensure blockades erected on National Highways are lifted forthwith for medical emergency cases.
Y. Bharath Shetty, Mangaluru North MLA, who is coordinating COVID-19 operations in the district, told The Hindu that the State would ask the Centre to hear it before any decision was taken.
Ban on movement of medical emergency cases was passed by the State government under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, on March 31 and the government was well within its powers to issue such an order.
Dr. Shetty said local bodies, including the Mangaluru City Corporation, other ULBs and panchayats too would pass similar resolutions prohibiting cross-border entry of medical emergency cases. The Municipal Corporations Act for that matter has been very strong, he said.
In a late evening order on Wednesday, a division bench of High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam had directed Centre to intervene in the matter of blockade based on a petition filed by The Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association.
No animosity
Stating that the restrictions were purely a temporary measure, Dr. Shetty stressed that Karnataka had no animosity towards people from Kerala. The infrastructure here was insufficient to handle COVID-19 positive cases that might arrive from Kerala if borders were opened for medical emergencies, he said.
Substantiating the administration’s stand, Dr. Shetty noted that the neighbouring Kasargod district in Kerala alone has reported over 110 COVID-19 positive cases as against similar number of cases for entire Karnataka. It would be difficult to screen every occupant of an emergency vehicle, he said adding not everyone would show symptoms at the time of screening.
