DMK president M.K. Stalin on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a policy decision swiftly for universal vaccination and help Tamil Nadu tide over the present COVID-19 pandemic situation and ensure total protection for the people of the state.
In a letter in which the DMK MPs also signed, Mr Stalin said it was equally important to allow independent procurement of drugs, vaccines and medical equipment by state governments as the pandemic affected states could not wait every time for Centre’s nod to save the human lives.
“It is reasonable to expect that the Centre plays an active role in sharing of international expertise and facilitating inter-state coordination and leave the states to deal with the pandemic independently. Hence, I request you to lift all the restrictions imposed on the states for direct procurements and take all efforts to strengthen the State Disaster Management Authority in the true spirit of cooperative federalism,” Mr Stalin said.
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He said the Prime Minister should intervene immediately and direct the Ministries concerned to supply adequate Covaxin and Covishield vaccines to the state of Tamil Nadu commensurate with the population of the state besides immediately sending 20 lakh vaccines as requisitioned by the state government.
“Tamil Nadu will need more vaccines than already allotted to accomplish the task of effective vaccinations, break the cycle of infection and flatten the curve. The state — on one hand is suffering from the shortage of vaccines and on the other hand, is struggling to meet the needs of the needy people — as set out in the guidelines of the Centre itself,” he pointed out.
The DMK leader said COVID-19 positive cases were rapidly increasing and in the last seven days, numbers of new cases and fatalities have almost doubled.
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“As per the official data, Tamil Nadu recorded 61,593 active cases on April 17, 2021 and 39 deaths. Though the bureaucrats are taking necessary preventive measures, it has led to a situation where even the Advocate General of Tamil Nadu admitted before the Hon’ble High Court that the situation is completely going out of control,” he explained.