TS FOR ABOLITION OF GST ON COVID MEDICINES, KITS
The state will pitch for abolition of GST on medicines, vaccines and equipment used for Covid cure at the GST Council meeting on May 28.
Finance minister T. Harish Rao will take part in the meeting called by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman via video mode from Delhi. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has asked the minister to raise this issue at the meet. West Bengal and Punjab have already urged the Centre to abolish GST on drugs and equipment being used for Covid treatment, besides on hand sanitisers, face masks, PPE kits, temperature check, oximetres, etc.
To give a helping hand during Covid-19 pandemic, a free meals programme has been initiated in Nizamabad city for
Covid-19 patients and their attendants. Around
1,500 to 2,000 meals are being provided to Covid-19 patients at their doorsteps or on government and private hospital premises.
Nizamabad has turned into a hotspot for Covid-19 cases as the district shares its border with Maharashtra, where
Covid-19 spread is alarming for the last two months. People from undivided Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar and neighbouring Maharashtra state reach here for Covid-19 treatment.
After Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, the Government General Hospital (GGH), Nizamabad, stands second in treating
Covid-19 patients in Telangana state, where patient numbers and death rate are high. People from undivided Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad districts and neighbouring Nanded district of Maharashtra rush to GGH for Covid-19 treatment.
However, daily an average of 500 people are testing Covid-19 positive in Nizamabad district and need home isolation for treatment. They need medication and nutritious food for speedy recovery. But, many of Covid-19 patients and their attendants are facing pathetic conditions to get food either at home or in hospitals.
The patients’ attendants are forced to starve due to lockdown restrictions. In this context, Nizamabad Urban MLA Bigala Ganesh Gupta has come forward to provide free meals to Covid-19 patients and their attendants.
He pressed into service a-75-member team to prepare food and serve it to the needy across Nizamabad city. Volunteers distribute food packets containing fine quality rice, dal, vegetable curry, curd, chutney, water bottle and disposable plate.
The free-meal programme has been successfully implemented for the last 11 days in Nizamabad city. Call centres and eight distribution points are working for the convenience of Covid-19 patients and their attendants.
Speaking to this newspaper, Ganesh Gupta said his father late Bigala Krishna Murthy had shown them the way to provide food to the needy. “We are always ready to provide free meals on different occasions to the people,” he said. “My father had played an active role in providing free meals for frontline workers during the first wave of Covid-19 in Nizamabad,” he recalled.
Gupta said his brother, TRS NRI cell coordinator Mahesh Bigala, and other family members cooperated to make the free meal programme a success in Nizamabad. “We are serving around 2,000 meals daily to the needy, which is an expensive drive, but we are doing it on humanitarian grounds,” he explained.
Meanwhile, TRS leaders and opposition parties praised the urban MLA for good initiative during the Covid-19 pandemic. Bigala family is native of Makloor mandal headquarters, 10-km from Nizamabad city, and always in the frontline to take up charity programmes in the district. Ganesh Gupta was elected as MLA for the second time from Nizamabad urban Assembly constituency, which is a high voltage political hub.
BIGALA GANESH GUPTA pressed into service a-75-member team to prepare food and serve it to the needy across Nizamabad city.