The Nagaland Congress has demanded President’s Rule in Nagaland alleging negligence on the part of the People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) government in handing the COVID19 situation in the state.
Sharing a party statement on its Twitter handle on Wednesday, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) stated: “President’s Rule demanded in Nagaland owing to repeated sheer criminal negligence of PDA govt in handling #Covid_19 crisis.”
The NPPCC said the Nagaland government has exposed its sheer negligence towards handling the COVID19 situation by sending 169 returnees from Chennai to Tuensang after just three days of institutional quarantine in Kohima on Wednesday.
The communication department of the NPCC, in the statement, said the government violated its own 14-day institutional quarantine rule by doing so.
“Shockingly, one returnee, who was among the 169 passengers packed off from Kohima without waiting for the test results, was declared positive only after reaching Tuensang,” the NPCC said.
It said the government seems more concerned about saving its political face rather than saving the people of the state.
The Pradesh Congress said the increase in COVID19 positive cases in Nagaland is not surprising as most of the recent returnees were from Chennai which is one of the major COVID19 hotspots in the country.
However, it said the state government has totally abdicated its responsibility to the people of the state by displaying extreme callousness in handling returnees from other districts by fudging quarantine rules according to its convenience.
“Its eagerness to be held hostage by the diktats of some civil society organisations and local bodies has sliced opened the wounds of discrimination and imbalanced share of development that is visible all over the state,” the Nagaland Congress said.
It said it is very unfortunate to see that the state government is in a state of total panic after repeatedly assuring that it is well prepared to combat the COVID19 situation during the initials days of lockdown.
The NPCC demanded that Governor R.N. Ravi step in to salvage the situation by dismissing the present “incompetent” and “callous” government, adding its continuation in office will only prolong the miseries suffered by the people.