COVID-19- "Extricate Every Single Drop Of Your Strength And Dedicate Yourself To The Protection Of Your Own People": Uttarakhand HC To State Govt.

The Court further pulled up the state government over its lack of preparedness to deal with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Despite the fact that in January 2021 the scientific community kept on warning about the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the State did not pay any heed…Surprisingly, despite the fact that the State is reeling under COVID-19 pandemic for the last one and a half year, there seems to be lack of planning on how to tackle the pandemic. ", a division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma observed.

State Did Not Pay Heed To Expert Warning About COVID Second Wave : Uttarakhand High Court Pulls Up State Government

The Court also noted that for certain mistakes committed, for certain negligence shown, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a gargantuan proportion both in the State, and in the entire nation.

Significantly, the Court said,

"Although, the Government is trying its level best to fight the pandemic, but being the guardian of the people, it has more onerous duties to discharge vis-à-vis its people both under the constitutional mandate, and political exigencies."

Therefore, the Court remarked,

"The State Government has to extricate every single drop of its strength, and every single penny of its finances, and to dedicate itself to the protection of its own people. Until and unless the health and the well-being of the people is guaranteed by the State, no State can progress. Good governance, needless to say, requires imagination, planning and implementation of the plan."

The Court also observed that the State Government, and the people would have to tread very carefully while dealing with the pandemic and the people will have to follow the SOPs scrupulously.

The directions issued by the Court

• The State Government shall increase the number of COVID-19 testing labs, especially in Haridwar district.
• In case the number of testing labs cannot be increased, the State Government should immediately take steps for releasing COVID-19 Mobile Testing Vans throughout the State.
• People living in the hilly regions of the State should be tested as expeditiously as possible in order to understand the extent of the pandemic, and its dangers.
• The State should also consider whether the time has come for turning the 20 colleges and hotels into isolation/quarantine centers.
• State Government should plan the establishment of more temporary hospitals, especially in big towns like Dehradun, Hardiwar and Haldwani. Even in middle-sized towns, like Ramnagar and others, Dedicated Covid Health Centers/Care Centers need to be established on war footing. '
• The State Government should correspond with the Central Government, and seek the permission of the Central Government to retain the oxygen tanks being produced within the State, as per its quota, rather than being asked to transport oxygen tanks from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, and from West Bengal.
• The State Government should also consider the possibility of importing oxygen concentrators with the cooperation of the Central Government.
• The State Government should ensure that those, who are manufacturing adulterated and spurious drugs, are charge-sheeted for offences under Section 27 of 23 the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
• The Drug Controller of the State is directed to ensure that the Drug Inspectors inspect the drug stores, and try to discover those, who are hoarding such vital drugs such as "Remdesivir Injection", and those who are black marketing this vital anti-viral injection
• The Government must ensure that the SOP issued by the Char Dham Management is adhered to strictly. Moreover, the steps required for implementing the said SOP should be worked out immediately by the Government in association with the Management of the Char Dham.
• The State Government is directed to take strict action against the private hospitals who are exorbitantly charging the COVID-19 patients such erring hospitals.

Read other reports:

State Did Not Pay Heed To Expert Warning About COVID Second Wave : Uttarakhand High Court Pulls Up State Government

Why State Forced To Procure Oxygen From Other States, When It Has 3 Production Units Of Its Own? Uttarakhand High Court Asks Centre

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