By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: Call it Naveen Patnaik Inaugurating – VK Pandian Flying and COVID-19 Continues to Killing in Odisha as there was no stop to death toll or positive cases. Odisha Chief Minister Patnaik’s home district Ganjam became the first in the State to record over 10,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 100 deaths. About 3 lakh migrant workers have returned to the Ganjam district alone.
With 10 more deaths including 4 from Ganjam on Sunday, death toll of COVID-19 in Odisha reached at 197, just 3 short to 200 while with fresh 1434 new cases including 320 from Ganjam, positive cases touched at 34,913.Of the total 197 deaths, Ganjam alone reported 104 deaths while positive cases also crossed 10, 000 mark of the Odisha’s total of 34,913.
State Health and Family Welfare Department said a total of cumulative Tested conducted on 5,43, 316 till Sunday afternoon , out of which 34,913 were reported positive while 21,273 have been recovered and 13,404 were active cases in the Odisha.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who confined himself in between Lok Seva Bhawan and Naveen Niwas in State Capital and keeping busy in inaugurations and video callings while his most trusted Lieutenant VK Pandian, the 5T Secretary, regularly flying through Pawan Hans Choppers but the ground results seems looked different if someone closely look into COVID-19 management in Odisha and particularly in Ganjam, the home turf of BJD Supremo.
On Saturday, in a boost to fight against COVID19, Chief Minister Patnaik inaugurated 2 dedicated Covid Hospitals with a capacity of 150 beds each in Ganjam district. The hospitals are functional at AMIT Hospital, Galanthara and MKCG Medical College, Berhampur. With these facilities more than 500 patients suffering from Virus Attack will get treatment.
Chief Minister Patnaik continuously reaffirming that Odisha Government has been leaving no stone unturned to fight this pandemic and protect the lives of people but the daily briefings by State Health and Family Welfare as well as Information and Public Relations Department saying something different with situation getting bad to worst day by day backed by both death and positive tolls.
Interestingly, BJD Ministers, MPs and MLAs in Ganjam, who had gone missing , now started surfacing one after another after Naveen Patnaik ‘Officer Politics’ didn’t work,” added a political commentator . Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange said all the entry and exit points in the District under close watch. Besides, restrictions were imposed on entry into Berhampur city.
The return of the migrant workers to the district accelerated the rise in cases, but reducing the institutional quarantine period to seven days from 14 and gross violation of home quarantine norms fuelled the jump, said sources in Berhampur add that the administration should disclose the number of samples being tested on a daily basis to understand the exact trend of the District.
The situation remains grim despite deployment of additional doctors and officers to handle the situation. Dubbing Ganjam as the labour capital of State’s economy, the BJP said though maximum number of the elected representatives of the district belongs to BJD, none of them are visible at the field level when the panic stricken people need them the most.
