Counterview: Ahmedabad: Friday,
31 July 2020.
Ever
since March 24, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the nation-wide
lockdown, civil society organizations (CSOs), religious bodies and citizen
initiative groups have been working tirelessly to provide food to the
lockdown-affected people, especially migrant workers. In fact, an impression
has gained ground that government efforts have been minuscule as compared with
that of CSOs. Facts in our possession suggest that, frequently, the officialdom
has been reporting numbers of how the affected people are being helped from CSO
data.
It is
not without reason that a simple question that keeps coming to CSO activists'
mind is, did the Government of India (GoI) get any funds for direct, including
medical, relief? And how much was the fund given by GoI to states? A search on
the website of all the key departments of the Gujarat government and the Centre
has gone in vein. Hence, we decided to file a Right to Information (RTI)
application with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in June, inquiring about how
much money was given to the Gujarat government by GoI.
The
query was immediately transferred to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
giving the impression that the Union health ministry was supporting the state
government to fight Covid-19. In the past, many a time, the state government
had blamed the Centre for inadequate disbursement of funds, and it was expected
that this time, at least, Gujarat would surely get good amount of support from
the Centre to fight the Covid-19 pandemic effectively.
However,
the RTI reply that was received from the ministry was surprising, to say the
least. It said that the Union health ministry has not given any grants or funds
to the state government for fighting the Covid-19 disaster, adding, all that it
has given is support in terms of personal protection equipment (PPE), masks and
ventilators.
There
seems to be lack of transparency and accountability in terms of what actually
is being done with International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
loan amount.
The RTI
reply revealed that the Union health ministry gave around 15-20 lakh N95 masks,
9.38 lakh PPE kits, 8.5 lakh hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets and 1,504
ventilators. Looking at the population of Gujarat and number of Corona-19
positive cases in the state, this help appears negligible for a population of
6.5 crore.
The GoI
is known to have a taken a loan of Rs 7,700 crore from the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) on April 3, 2020 for masks, PPEs,
testing, laboratory, equipment, recruiting new staff in medical services,
treatment, having Covid-19 specialised hospitals, beds, data management,
awareness, community participation etc.
The loan
proposal and the agreement elaborate how GoI is supposed to use the loan amount
for strengthening relief measures, treatment facilities, and increasing awareness
level and community participation in the fight against Covid-19. However, from
all accounts, there seems to be lack of transparency and accountability in
terms of what actually is being done with this loan amount.
The RTI
helpline run by the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP) has been getting calls
(on 099240 85000) inquiring about the number of beds in state government-run
Covid-19 hospitals with regard to ventilators, especially from relatives of
patients before they decide to opt for a private hospital.
However,
the state government has not cared to declare any details about the 1,504
ventilators GoI has given, especially how these were allocated to different
hospitals across the state. Thus Covid-19 relief fund availability and expenses
still remain a top secret.
.JPG)
.JPG)
