The Kerala Assembly witnessed an uproar during the Question Hour on Wednesday, with the Opposition accusing Health Minister Veena George of evading a question regarding incidents of alleged high-handedness of authorities against fish vendors.
Congress MLA M. Vincent raised a question whether the Health Department had issued instructions to implement COVID-19 restrictions using force, referring to an incident at Attingal in Thiruvananthapuram district on Tuesday when local body authorities forcibly stopped a fish vendor from carrying out sales.
In response, Ms. George said that the State government was committed to saving lives as well as protecting livelihoods. However, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said that it was unfortunate that the Minister did not directly refer to the incident. He said the question was specifically directed at the Health Minister since she had placed on the table statements regarding COVID-19 protocols and restrictions. Speaker M.B. Rajesh said that no one could dictate how the response to a question should be.
Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who was in line to ask the next question, repeated Mr. Vincent's query and said that there had been three incidents of police atrocities against fish vendors in the past few days.
Ms. George, in her response, said that everyone had the freedom to carry out their work. The Health Department had given extra focus to the coastal belt, with a special vaccination drive in these regions, she added.
Pinarayi’s statement
Congress legislator T.J. Vinod said that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's statement earlier on a similar incident a few days ago, dismissing it as a fake claim, had led to such incidents repeating. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MLA P.K. Kunhalikutty said that the Minister should have taken a compassionate stand with a promise to look into the incident.