A delegation of senior leaders of Gujarat Congress met Governor Acharya Devvrat in Gandhinagar on Monday seeking criminal action against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president CR Paatil after the latter will distributed 5,000 Remdesivir injections in Surat at a time when there was a state-wide shortage of the injection that is used for Covid-19 treatment.
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) interim president Amit Chavda, interim Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani and former Union minister Bharat Solanki along with other senior Congress leaders met the governor at Raj Bhavan and submitted the letter.
“Today, people of Gujarat are lining up outside government and private hospitals, but they are not getting Remdesivir injections. Even Zydus company, which manufactures the injections, had to come out with a declaration stating that they have run out of stock. The Surat Collector had given in writing that his district doesn’t have any more stock of Remdesivir injections. In such times, how did state BJP president CR Paatil, whose criminal history is known to all of us, come up with 5,000 injections overnight to distribute them at his party programme,†Chavda said.
The GPCC interim president said when the media had questioned the Gujarat Chief Minister, the latter replied they should ask Paatil and not him.
“The people of Gujarat want to know whether CR Paatil had the licence to purchase, hoard and distribute 5,000 Remdesivir injections? Our CM is weak and cannot take action against the guilty, therefore, we have approached the Governor stating that a person has broken the law and order as per his whims and fancies and hoarded 5,000 Remdesivir injections at his private premises without following any Covid-19 protocol and distributed them. Therefore, the Governor should intervene and take criminal action against him in the form of a First Information Report, get him arrested and ask police to conduct raid on his premises for more stock of Remdesivir injections,†Chavda said.
The Congress also criticised the BJP-led state government for failing to control the second wave of the coronavirus in Gujarat.
“For the past 25 years, BJP has been ruling in Gujarat, yet due to their lack of coordination in administration and will power the people of Gujarat have become victims today. It has been an year since the coronavirus pandemic hit the country and after so many difficulties, loss of business and employment, death of more than 4,000 and lakhs getting infected, the government has neither learnt any lessons nor prepared to stop the second wave. There was no infrastructure or preparation on behalf of the government to deal with the second wave. Instead to please their political masters, the state government organised first ‘Namaste Trump’ event at Motera stadium in Ahmedabad last year and later cricket matches this year which lakhs had attended,†Chavda said.
The Congress leader claimed that there was not even a single city, district or taluka, which had sufficient ventilators, injections and oxygen or medical staff. “Instead of saving lives of the people, the government is busy in taking political advantage out of the situation. There are long queues outside crematoriums in Gujarat and there is complete anarchy,†he added.
In a letter to BJP MLA Harsh Sanghavi on Monday, GPCC spokesperson Jayrajsinh Parmar said: “You have challenged the Congress party to prove that CR Paatil purchased the injections illegally and sold them. However, I would like to state that if you have guts then ensure that no patient in Gujarat in upcoming times faces any shortage of beds, medicines and health care. If your CM had done efficient management, then there was no need of CR Paatil to run a parallel government. Please tell us how Paatil procured the 5,000 injections and which of his friends assisted him in it, how did he manage to show so many prescriptions for injections and whether he had any licence to hoard them.â€
