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Why COVID Facilities Offered By Railways, Air Force Not Used?Karnataka High Court Asks State, BBMP
Mustafa Plumber
13 May 2021 7:57 PM IST
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the State government and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to give an explanation as to why it did not take over Covid facility for the benefit of the general public offered by the Railways and Indian Air Force. A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar said "Failure stares at the face when there are...
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the State government and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to give an explanation as to why it did not take over Covid facility for the benefit of the general public offered by the Railways and Indian Air Force.
A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar said "Failure stares at the face when there are very few beds available in the city at any given point. BBMP owes an explanation to the court for not taking over the facility offered by the Indian Air force. That explanation is to be given next week. Similarly, the State shall also give explanation in writing why beds offered by Railways were not taken over."
The direction followed after Central Government counsel M N Kumar informed the court that the 100 bed facility offered by the Indian Air Force at Jalahalli has not been taken over by the BBMP and so has the facility offered by the Railways, even after directions having been issued by the court.
The court in its order noted "In one of the earlier orders we recorded a statement of the counsel for the central government that railways had offered beds in trains at various places in the state. In fact, direction issued by this court to immediately take over. We direct the state government to immediately take over the beds if not taken over till today."
The court also said "Our attention is invited to Memo dated May 4, filed by Counsel for Government of India. The memo records a decision taken by Indian Air force to set up a dedicated covid care facility for treatment of the general public. The Air force has assured of giving various medical and para-medical personnel. It is stated that housekeeping, catering, bio-medical waste management, etc will be outsourced to a contractor."
It added "Counsel for BBMP claims that 30 beds have been taken over as of today from IAF. However, counsel for the Central Government says not a single bed has been taken over."
The court then ordered "We direct the Chief Commissioner of BBMP to take immediate steps to take over the facility offered by the Indian Air Force, within a period of 24 hours from now and to ensure that the facility is made operational at the earliest."
