Like Marie Antoinette, Bengaluru administration cannot provide ‘bread’ (basic and efficient Covid treatment) but offers citizens ‘cake’ (Rs. 72-crore BIEC centre)
BENGALURU:
With Bengaluru’s Covid care infrastructure tottering, the new game in town is passing the buck between netas and babus. However, it is acknowledged by some senior bureaucrats themselves that BBMP has lost the plot as far as coping with the spread of the deadly virus in the city is concerned.
Speaking to thebengalurulive, some officials have wondered whether it was at all necessary to build a 10,100-bed Covid Care Centre at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre premises on Tumkur Road, on which BBMP will be spending around Rs 72 crore of taxpayers’ money.
“The city was managing well and cases were under control during the nationwide lockdown announced by the Prime Minister, but now some BBMP officials are blaming the same government for easing the lockdown and ‘helping’ the positive cases to grow. The Karnataka High Court itself has taken BBMP to task for its failure to stay ahead of the situation,” said a source.
‘Slept during lockdown’
Another officer pointed out that BBMP officials sat quiet even as Mumbai was gearing up to control the spread of the coronavirus by setting up a large number of Covid Care Centres. “Overconfident BBMP officials took things for granted during the lockdown period as people did not step out of their homes, thereby helping the administration to control the spread of the virus. But when the real efforts were required post Unlock1, the civic administration collapsed,” he said.
Since the first week of June, there has been a surge in Covid cases in Karnataka, and far more so in Bengaluru. But contrary to what the bureaucrats and their political masters may say, the fault does not lie with the easing of restrictions post Unlock1. Rather, BBMP and the state Health Department woke up late to the critical need for increased testing when they should have started the exercise during the two-month lockdown.
4 firms bag BIEC work
As per sources in the government, BBMP entrusted establishment of the 10,100-bed BIEC centre to four Bengaluru companies which are reportedly close to certain bureaucrats and politicians.
A large sum of Rs. 75 crore has been allocated for the facilities, which include cots, mattresses, bedsheets, pillows, pillow covers, blankets, table fans, bedside tables, chairs and a laundromat. The amount is predicated on the virus being controlled in the next 3 months, but it could be considerably more as no one can predict whether the pandemic will abide by the administration’s timeline!
The largest Covid care centre in the country with 10,100 beds has been setup at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre.
— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) July 10, 2020
Its key feature being that everything that an Asymptomatic Covid patient needs will all be available under one roof.#KarnatakaCoronaUpdate pic.twitter.com/zdmGBLNvVe
An official who has closely monitored the setting up of the BIEC centre said BBMP will be spending approsimately Rs 800 per bed per day, which amounts to Rs 24,000 a month per head and takes the cumulative expenses to Rs 72.72 crore over 3 months.
Congress charges
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has been quick to point to shortcomings and irregularities in the state government’s and BBMP’s handling of the situation. “As Covid-19 has been declared a global pandemic, officials in Karnataka, under cover of the National Disaster Management law, have been given a free hand to bypass tender procedures and award work orders to their ‘own’ people,” alleged one Congress leader.
“We have been directed (by KPCC president DK Shivakumar) to collect all the details related to Covid-19 work undertaken by BBMP in the Bengaluru limits. There is huge corruption ever since the lockdown was imposed, from procuring groceries and distributing to needy people, to the hiring of 10,100 beds for Covid patients for the next three months. Shortly, we will open a Pandora’s box which will reveal the truth,” said Abdul Wajid, Congress leader of the opposition in the BBMP council.
What’s logic of home quarantine?
Questions are also being raised over the government guidelines on home quarantine for positive patients in the age group of 11 to 50 years.
“The state Health Department has come out with guidelines for eligibility for admission in community-managed Covid Care Centres. On the other hand, the government is pushing for home isolation for Covid-positive cases (until they develop serious symptoms) but people above 60 and children below 10, pregnant women and lactating mothers will be shifted to these Covid Care Centres,” Wajid said.
“When the media and television channels are reporting that private hospitals are not admitting serious cases until BBMP provides a recommendation letter, what are we trying to achieve by opening such Covid Care Centres where serious patients cannot be treated, and how can the government guarantee that home isolation patients will get better treatment if their condition goes out of control?” Wajid queried.
Hotels off, BIEC on
As if it was not bad enough that the advantage from the flattening of the Covid curve during the Prime Minister’s lockdown was lost after Unlock1, the entire system seems to have collapsed during Unlock2. Take for instance BBMP’s step to block private hotels, from small budget ones to 5-stars, for the purpose of institutional quarantine. That exercise is now virtually abandoned, and in its place is a veritable white elephant like the 10,100-bed facility at BIEC.
Finally, the state’s and Bengaluru’s caseloads speak for themselves. As on Saturday evening, Karnataka reported a total number of 36,216 positive cases, of which 20,883 are active. Bengaluru alone has 12,793 active cases, as also the highest number of 229 deaths in the state’s tally of 613.
Read: https://thebengalurulive.com/7-day-lockdown-in-bengaluru-city-and-rural-from-july-14/
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