HC: Door-to-door vaccination would have saved many
The Bombay high court on Wednesday asked the Centre to reconsider its current protocol that doesn’t allow door-to-door vaccination. It also said that had the government incorporated such a policy earlier, it could have saved lives of senior citizens and specially-abled persons who were unable to visit vaccination centres.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish S. Kulkarni was hearing a PIL filed by city-based lawyers Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari, seeking directions to the Centre, the Maharashtra government and the Bombay Municipal Corporation to provide door-todoor vaccination facility for people over 75 years of age, specially-abled and those who are bed-ridden.
Pawar. Others include chief ministers Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena), Mamata Banerjee (TMC), M.K. Stalin (DMK), and Hemant Soren (JMM).
Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah (NC) and Akhilesh Yadav (SP) have also signed the letter, alongside Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), D. Raja (CPI) and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M).
The Opposition leaders also demanded giving all jobless at least Rs 6,000 per month and a free distribution of foodgrains to the needy, saying over one crore tonnes of foodgrains are currently “rotting in central godowns”.
The leaders have also demanded a repeal of the three Central farm laws which, they claimed, will help protect lakhs of ‘’annadatas’’ (food-growers) from becoming the victims of pandemic.
A large number of farmers are sitting in protest at three borders of Delhi, seeking the farm laws passed by Parliament in September last year be scrapped. “Repeal farm laws to protect lakhs of our annadatas becoming victims of the pandemic so that they can continue to produce food to feed the Indian people,” they said.
“Though it has not been the practice of your office or government, we would appreciate a response to our suggestions in the interests of India and our people,” the leaders said in the letter.