Coronavirus cases are again rising in Delhi and with it, the politics between the Central government and Delhi’s AAP government is also heating up. Now, state’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain has written a letter to the Union Home Secretary accusing the Home Ministry of interfering in the work of the state and stopping the Kejriwal government from conducting more tests.
The recent spurt of Covid-19 cases in the national capital had led to CM Arvind Kejriwal convening an emergency meeting to stop the tide and deciding to double the number of tests in the city. At present Delhi conducts 20,000 tests in a day but after the meeting it was decided that the number would be increased to 40,000. Now, the state government is accusing the Centre of interfering in this decision.
Targeting the Modi government, Satyendar Jain wrote, “Ever since corona’s influence hit Delhi, the state government has been facing this head-on along with the central government. But when some officials said that the Union Home Ministry is pressuring Delhi authorities not to increase the testing in Delhi, I was shocked.
First of all, I am shocked as to why the Union Ministry of Home Affairs is interfering in the work of the Delhi government in this way. Secondly, why is the Delhi government being prevented from doing further testing inside Delhi? Testing more and more is considered a good policy in the whole world and it is under the same policy till now the Delhi government has been able to control the cases of corona in the city.”
Jain also asked why the Delhi government was being stopped from increasing the tests in the state. He further wrote, “If the Delhi government wants to increase the number of tests from 20,000 to 40,000, then why is the Delhi government being stopped? Why is this type of non-constitutional and illegal pressure being put on the officers of Delhi? I am attaching a note of the Principal Secretary (Health) of Delhi with this letter. This note was shown to both the Minister and the Chief Minister and we have been told that the note has been made by the Delhi authorities under pressure from the Ministry of Home Affairs.” He also requested the central government to not interfere in the same matter.
In the same letter, Jain informed that he wanted to write this letter to the Union Home Minister admitted in AIIMS but didn’t do so because he was not well. “I am writing this letter because coronavirus cases in Delhi have started increasing again in the last few days. Being a responsible administrator, the honourable CM convened a meeting of all high-ranking officials at his residence on August 26 at 11 am. Till now, it has been our policy to deal with the corona situation in Delhi by testing as much as possible to identify patients and isolate them. In accordance with this policy, the chief minister has ordered that the number of tests being done in Delhi at present is to be doubled to 40,000 tests within 1 week,” wrote Jain.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry denied the allegations made by the Delhi government on Twitter. “The allegation raised in the letter of the Health Minister of Delhi government dated August 27, 2020, which is addressed to Union Home Secretary, to the effect that MHA is putting pressure on Delhi government officers not to increase testing in Delhi is false and baseless,” a tweet said.
Amidst this, Delhi recorded its highest number of single-day cases in the last 47 days. In the last 24 hours, 1840 cases of coronavirus were reported in the national capital. After which the total cases have increased to 1,67,604. Apart from this, 22 patients also died in the last 24 hours and the total death toll has now reached 4369. While in the last 24 hours, 1130 people have been cured and the total number of people who have been cured so far is 1,50,027. Active coronavirus cases in Delhi stands at 13,208 with 6596 patients in home isolation. Delhi has conducted 21061 tests in the last 24 hours taking the total tests to 15,03,722.