Thread by @oyevivekk

Thread:

Oxygen Crisis (Center & State Govt):

In a democracy, no one is beyond question and scrutiny. Is Modi really responsible for ALL the failures we are witnessing?

Let's get some facts now:

(ALL these facts & letters are in public domain) :

Cont'd...1/n

1. During the first wave of Covid19 in 2020 when similar situation was unfolding, Central Government wrote a letter to all the states and gave them permission to manufacture medical oxygen, and RAMP UP their production of medical oxygen.

It's been ONE YEAR and none of the states utilized the relaxation in the rules. NO STATE (except one or two) really took this seriously.

2. Ministry of Health wrote FOUR letters to the states : 25 January, 21 February, 23 February and 25 February. In each of the letters, central government, in very clear terms, gave specific guidelines on:

- Increased Testing
- Contact tracing
- Preparing micro-containment zones
- Stocking up necessary medical supplies for Covid19
- Increasing infrastructure.
- warned of an impending disaster.

3. REPEATED guidelines were sent by central government to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab, who constituted ~75% of India's total cases in February. These states were given very clear guidelines about the impending disaster.

Now, the question: What did the state governments do? If there is a failure, it has to be collective. While the central leadership is responsible for the initial crisis, poor messaging & complacency, why did the state governments ignore repeated warnings from the central govt ?

Why NO QUESTION whatsoever was asked to Maharashtra govt - when it was contributing more than 50% of India's total cases daily for almost 2 months (15 Feb - 15 March) and its test positivity rate was alarmingly 15% even when the pandemic was almost over in other parts of India?

Why no one questioned Maharashtra government about their pathetic testing and policies that led to explosion of cases throughout the country?

Why no one has asked even one question from Uddhav Thackeray when he was sitting over a volcano about to explode - ignoring the guidelines to tackle rising Covid cases?

Health/Health-related infrastructure/micro-containment zone/testing & tracing are all primarily state subjects and states have overwhelming jurisdiction.

It is a collective failure - if you are criticising just one political leader and turning a blind eye to the other - it is totally unjustified. EVERYONE has to be asked the right questions - according to their accountability.