PATIENTS ON FLOOR ANNOY HIGH COURT
The Bombay High Court bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government and its authorities to now focus on rural areas of the state as the number of Covid cases in remote areas were suddenly increasing.
The judges, while hearing a clutch of petitions on the Covid crisis, also ordered the Maharashtra government to submit details of Covid cases in rural villages and how civic authorities there were providing medical facilities to citizens.
“We have seen what is happening in metro cities like Pune, Mumbai. Now we want you to shift your focus to rural villages,” the judges said while referring to a news report by the news channel India Today over the facilities being provided at Covid care centres in Palghar district.
“The news item showed how citizens were lying on the floor for treatment. There weren’t given proper facilities at all. We can say that this news report was an eye-opener,” Justice Kulkarni remarked.
“Thus, we want the focus to be now shifted to rural villages. What are the facilities being made available there?” the bench added.
The judges accordingly ordered the Maharashtra government to immediately issue advisories asking all its collectors and concerned authorities to focus on rural areas now. “Palghar is just near Mumbai. If this is a situation there then imagine what would be the plight of citizens in other remote areas, in tribal areas. This news report was actually an eye opener for us,” Justice Kulkarni obser ved. Further CJ Datta added, “We have to stop infection at the threshold so that it does not spread in rural areas. We do not have those facilities in rural areas like cities. In the first wave villages were not as much affected. But now, you have to focus on villages.” During the hearing, the bench cited another news item that highlighted the success stor y of a village in Gujarat, which hasn’t recorded a single case in the last three months.
“All that we need to do is study that Gujarat model. That could be replicated here too,” Justice Kulkarni added, while adjourning the hearing till next Wednesday.