Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Sudhakaran has said that Health Minister Veena George had insulted the families that lost their breadwinners to COVID-19.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Sudhakaran said the Opposition had pointed out that the deliberate under-reporting of COVID-19 deaths could deny compensation to the next of kin of pandemic victims.
Mr. Sudhakaran said Ms. George had cruelly responded to the Opposition demand to re-enumerate deaths to rectify erroneous certification, if any.
Against norms
Staff Reporter writes from Kozhikode: Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan alleged that there had been inconsistencies with regard to the number of COVID deaths in the State and that it was a clear violation of the Indian Council of Medical Research and the World Health Organisation norms.
He told a ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by the Calicut Press Club here on Friday that several COVID-19 deaths were not included on the list to make it appear that the State had a low COVID-19 death rate.
Mr. Satheesan said if the State government did not come out with the correct statistics within a month, the Opposition would do its job.
Mr. Satheeshan also alleged that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was supporting the criminal gangs involved in gold smuggling to cover up the party’s illegal dealings. “Known CPI(M) workers are getting implicated in gold smuggling every day. The party has used the smuggling gangs for its political gains and if they get caught, the story of many political murders would come out,” he said adding that party-supported smuggling rackets were having a field day in north Malabar.
The Leader of the Opposition suggested that the State introduce fuel subsidies for the common man struggling due to the skyrocketing fuel prices.
