Bengaluru civic body requests PM Modi to allocate more oxygen, doses

BENGALURU: With Bengaluru registering the highest number of Covid cases in the country, a top official of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make additional allocations of oxygen and vaccine doses at the earliest.
Modi interacted with district administration officials of 46 districts in nine states. BBMP chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta made a presentation on the Covid situation in Bengaluru.
Gupta said: “The video conference was quite fruitful and it gave district administrations a platform to share their efforts. We brought to the Prime Minister’s notice that there is a need for additional allocation of oxygen and vaccine for Bengaluru.”
He said the state government would communicate Bengaluru’s requirement to the Centre. While additional oxygen allocation of around 200kilolitres is needed for Bengaluru for a comfortable buffer, vaccine doses are dependent on total allocation for Karnataka.
The government made a representation to the Centre, seeking temporary use of defence land in Bengaluru and Belagavi for Covid-19 relief purposes. Deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi urged defence minister Rajnath Singh to set up additional Covid Care Centres in these places. Congratulating Rajnath for setting up Covid hospitals and medical centres by the Defence Research and Development Organisation in Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi and Ahmedabad, Savadi said a similar effort to ease the strain on Karnataka medical infrastructure would be useful.
Chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who participated in the meeting, said Modi emphasised local containment zones, aggressive testing and creating awareness among people, especially in rural areas. Home minister Basavaraj Bommai said Modi also asked states to spread awareness among children from now about coronavirus through cartoons, articles and stories in local languages. Experts predict a high impact on children in the possible third wave.
Despite 17 district administrations from Karnataka participating in the video conference, only Gupta was allotted time to make a presentation. Later, the opposition Congress took a dig at the Yediyurappa government. KPCC president DK Shivakumar said the Prime Minister does not have confidence in political leadership of the state and government and that’s why decided to meet DCs and not ministers.