Former MP Shahid Siddiqui’s niece dies of Covid symptoms
NEW DELHI: While the authorities seem to be leaving no stone unturned to convince people that facilities for managing the surge in Covid-19 cases in the country are adequate, numerous people are narrating their struggles on social media. Former MP Shahid Siddiqui, who lost his niece on Sunday, also tweeted how she was rushed from hospital to hospital on Saturday, but could not be admitted anywhere. “She was neither provided icu care nor put on a ventilator despite being very critical. Hospitals are not even trying to save people,” Siddiqui tweeted.
nNEWDELHI: Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Sunday described the Delhi government’s first information report (FIR) against it as “unwarranted” and “harassment” and asserted that it would even go to court to get the complaint quashed.
The Delhi government had filed an FIR against the hospital located in Rajendra Nagar for not following protocols for testing patients. The government had asked the hospital to stop testing patients on June 3, citing violations of the ICMR guidelines. The
FIR was filed under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.
“We will contest the FIR as it is totally unwarranted. How can an FIR be filed for not providing data in the format that government wanted? We may not have followed their format but we have been regularly updating Covid data and sending it across to the authorities concerned. So we will ensure that the FIR is quashed even if that means we have to approach the court,” said Dr D S Rana, chairman, board of management of the hospital. “Even though we are not at fault, I went and apologised for any oversight that may have occurred inadvertently and asked to stop this harassment. There was shortage of data entry operators during lockdown so there was difficulty in feeding data in a particular format. There is no criminal offence committed from our side.”
A Delhi government spokesperson refused comment on the hospital contemplating to move the court.
Rana said the management is also working on implementing the state government’s June 3 directive to turn the hospital into a dedicated Covid-19 facility. “We have so far managed to convert about 40% of the main hospital into a Covid hospital,” said Rana.
nNEWDELHI: The Delhi government from June 10 will withdraw the special 70% coronavirus fees that it has been levying on the maximum retail price (MRP) of liquor, a senior government official said Sunday.
The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday. The cabinet note, which HT has seen, further said, value added tax (VAT) on liquor will be increased from 20% to 25%.
VAT is applicable on all Indian manufactured foreign liquor and country liquor. Prices of imported liquor – on which several other duty fees are levied – are likely to witness no change in MRP after June 10.
The special ‘coronavirus fee’ was imposed by the Delhi excise department on May 3, the day government liquor shops in the city — which are not located in markets and shopping malls — were allowed to open after around six weeks of lockdown. Around 100 shops that were allowed to open witnessed massive crowds and rampant violation of lockdown norms.
Between May 18 and 22, more shops, including those in markets and those owned by private enterprises, were allowed to open, but on alternate days based on the shop numbers.
Between May 4 and June 3, excise department records showed, the Delhi government had earned around ₹200 crore through the special coronavirus fee on liquor.
From June 1, around 700 liquor shops in the city out of 864 have been allowed to function all days a week. From Monday onwards, those located inside shopping malls will be allowed to function too, said a senior government official. Vinod Giri, director general, Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies, welcomed the Delhi cabinet’s decision and said, “We had repeatedly pointed out that such steep increase will turn to be counterproductive as it would lead to fall in liquor sales and government revenues.”