Tharoor slams Centre for delaying nod for test kits
Thiruvananthapuram MP and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has slammed the Central government for its alleged failure in granting approval to Covid test kits developed by the government-owned Thiruvananthapuram based premier institutes like Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Science and Technology (SCTIMST) and Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB).
Mr Tharoor sought to know from the Central government as to why the premier government institutions had been kept waiting for approval. “For over two months the test kits made by governmentowned SCTIMST & RGCB, Kerala’s premier institutes, have been pending GOI approval. On the other hand, private labs
had their kits approved in a matter of days. Can any of you explain why our institutes have been kept waiting for this long?” he asked.
The Congress MP said even the lone minister from Kerala in Union ministry V. Muraleedharan can understand that for funds to be disbursed, purchase needs to be made; for purchase, production needs to start.
“And for production, Mr Muraleedharan needs to convince his government to support the two institutes and approve their kits, instead of sitting on Twitter.
“If GOI’s argument is that the SCTIMST kits are not yet ready for production and therefore the district collector cannot authorise the release of `1 crore allotted by me on March 30, then why is the Union minister attacking me publicly for something his government has been delaying?”
Mr Tharoor said the current BJP government has a shameful pattern: it fails to perform and then it attacks the Opposition for allegedly not doing the government’s job.
A war of words had broken out on Twitter between Mr Muraleedharan and Mr Tharoor over disbursal of Rs1 crore from MPLADS funds towards research and development of Covid test kits.
In response to a tweet by Mr Tharoor on using `1 crore from his MPLADS fund, Mr Muraleedharan tweeted that the MP had lied as SCTIMST had not received funds.