States free to impose lockdown, says Kishan

Union minister of state for home . Kishan Reddy has made it clear that states have complete freedom to impose curfew, lockdown or other measurs to check Covid-19. “States may take decisions from time to time as the situation evolves,” he said on Monday.

The minister visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Bibinagar and reviewed the infrastructure issues. He told the media that states are responsible for regulating the supply of oxygen they receive from the Centre. “The oxygen requirement is being met with war planes engaged in reaching this from abroad. Oxygen is allocated to states on the basis of population ratio,” he said.

He appealed to the people to follow rules and have self-regulation to control the second wave. State governments should provide Covid-19 treatment under the Aarogyasri scheme of the Centre which is well-managed, he said.

Kishan Reddy referred to the vaccine sales via black market and said state governments should act tough against such trends.

He said the Bibinagar AIIMS transfer process is not yet complete and a full-fledged process is needed. No one knows where the related papers are kept.

The minister noted that the Prime Minister had personally visited pharma companies in Hyderabad, Pune and Gujarat and the DRDO has developed a cheap drug which would reach the public soon. There was severe shortage of beds and oxygen and steps were being taken to overcome such issues,.

The production, transportation and distribution of oxygen have become a challenge. “As the demand increases, we are producing the vaccine non-stop. We have taken steps to ensure Bharat Biotech vaccine is manufactured in other companies too,” Reddy said.