The Karnataka Congress’s youth wing has accused BJP MLA S Raghu of holding vaccination camps by diverting stock from nearby government centres. The allegations came up after Bhuvaneshwari Nagar primary health centre in his constituency saw several beneficiaries returning following a last-minute change in venue.
“I came here at 4 am for a token. I got the token. They told me the vaccination will begin at 10 am. When I returned by that time, I still had to wait for half an hour and then they asked to move to another venue," said Savitha, a local resident.
A token system is in place in several health centres where walk-ins are allowed for those above the age of 45.
The new venue was Om Shakthi Kalyana Mantapa, owned by local MLA S Raghu where a free vaccination camp is ongoing. Vaccination came to a halt on Sunday.
Youth Congress workers alleged that the MLA has been diverting government stock from different centres nearby.
“They could run the vaccination camp after giving prior information. Here, they had already given tokens. Those beneficiaries could have been vaccinated at the health centre. Why did they have to run around and not even get vaccinated finally," said Nandish Revanna, member of the Youth Congress and a local resident.
Reacting to the issue, S Raghu said that the allegations were baseless.
“The drive is being conducted at my Kalyana mantapa to ensure a large number of people are vaccinated. It is being done for free. At a PHC, you can only vaccinate one or two hundred people. Here, thousands can be vaccinated. As a local MLA, I arranged for a bigger place that’s all. I haven’t diverted any government vaccine illegally. This is a government camp," said Raghu.
BBMP officials were not available for comment
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