To control the spread of COVID-19 cases in the State, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has launched the ‘Arogya Hasta’ programme, former MP and State president of the outreach programme R. Dhruvanarayan said.
Addressing a press conference at the district Congress party office here on Thursday, he said around 15,000 party workers were appointed and training is being carried out by experts for providing health services in all the districts. The insurance cover of ₹1 lakh has been provided to all the 15,000 workers by MLA Ajay Singh, who is also in charge of the Arogya Hasta programme.
Mr. Dhruvanarayan said that a total of 7,400 Arogya Hasta kits were distributed at gram panchayat levels so far and 220 doctors were appointed under the outreach programme. The programme is tentatively estimated to cost around ₹6 crore and the donation was raised from the party leaders, he added. Alleging that the State government had failed in containing the spreading of the virus, Mr. Dhruvanarayan said that the B.S. Yediyurappa-led government was indulging in large-scale corruption in the name of purchasing healthcare and medical equipment for the treatment of COVID-19. Though KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar exposed the corruption of the BJP government, no action had been taken yet.
Economic slowdown
Criticising the ongoing economic slowdown in the State, Mr. Dhruvanarayan said the State was under severe financial stress, and it had decided to borrow ₹33,000 crore loans from financial institutions for the payment of salaries and the development work.
