Mangaluru: District minister Kota Shrinivas Poojari urged chief minister B S Yediyurappa to sanction more oxygen and vaccines for Dakshina Kannada.
A delegation including fisheries minister S Angara, Puttur MLA Sanjeeva Matandoor and Bantwal MLA Rajesh Naik met Yediyurappa in Bengaluru on Thursday, and apprised him of the situation in Dakshina Kannada, regarding the shortage of oxygen and vaccines.
“There is a shortage of oxygen in hospitals in Dakshina Kannada. Hence, an oxygen tanker should be sanctioned for the district. The government should supply 50,000 doses of Covaxin and one lakh doses of Covishield to the district,” the delegation demanded.
They also requested the chief minister to sanction permission to appoint 40 more arogya mithras, doctors and nurses for the district, and requested a separate RT-PCR lab for Sullia and Puttur.
In another memorandum to the chief minister, Pooojari urged the government to declare all elected representatives in over 6,020 gram panchayats of the state as Covid warriors. “There are more than 95,000 gram panchayat members across the state. They have already formed village level Covid-19 task forces in their respective areas. Further, they have been convening meetings to discuss measures to be adopted to control the spread of the virus, and they also visit houses. Similarly, elected representatives of urban local bodies too have been actively participating in the drives to control Covid-19. Hence, they should be given vaccines on priority,” the minister demanded.
Poojari demanded that Rs 100 crore should be sanctioned to Dakshina Kannada, that has suffered damage due to heavy rain caused by Cyclone Tauktae. “Several PWD roads and rural roads have been damaged due to heavy rain. While the PWD has put the total loss due to damage to roads at Rs 48 crore, the department of rural development and panchayat raj has submitted a loss estimate of Rs 18 crore. Similarly, the fisheries department has estimated the damage to be to the tune of Rs 30 crore, and the loss due to sea erosion is estimated at Rs 30 crore. While the total damage due to the cyclone is estimated at Rs 126 crore, the government should release Rs 100 crore through the disaster response fund,” the minister urged.