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House panel meets ministries to discuss impact of second wave of Covid-19
According to a person who attended the meeting, panel chairperson and Congress MP Anand Sharma stressed the need for “authentic” messaging and asked for a crackdown on fake news.
Parliament’s standing committee on home affairs met officials from the ministries of health, commerce, home affairs and labour on Monday to discuss the impact of the second wave of Covid-19 and the country’s preparations to combat a possible third wave, people familiar with the matter said.
According to a person who attended the meeting, panel chairperson and Congress MP Anand Sharma stressed the need for “authentic” messaging and asked for a crackdown on fake news.
“The chairperson said as the country looks at preparations for a possible third wave, clear messages should be conveyed and the ministries of health and home affairs should crack down on fake news spreading fear among the public.”
The panel met to discuss the “socioeconomic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic’s second wave”, according to the Rajya Sabha website. Issues raised at the committee included the need to create a national database of migrant labourers, ensuring that lifesaving medicines are not sold in the black market and ramping up the pace of vaccination. The panel also sought an accurate death count and state-wise details on the number of people who have received government benefits.
“The MPs have suggested that temporary arrangements, such as the hospitals that were set up by the ITBP, be kept ready to be set up on short notice in case they are needed again,” said the person cited above.
A second person familiar with the matter said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rakesh Sinha raised the issue of the “mismanagement” of the second wave by the Delhi government”. Sinha highlighted “the need for a civil governance oversight over the medical community,” the second person said. “In an extraordinary situation like the pandemic it become important what message is being conveyed to the country.”
Congress MP P Bhattacharya highlighted the plight of migrant workers and also said that goods and services tax should be waived on medical equipment. Sinha flagged certain “negative” reports about India in the Lancet medical journal and asked the home secretary to take note of the issue and register strong protest, the second person added.
Ravneet Singh Bittu, another Congress lawmaker, raised the issue of vaccine clearance, stating that until Covaxin is approved by the World Health Organization people’s ability to travel abroad could get curtailed. “Queries about black fungus were also raised by the panel,” the second person said.
Other than the MPs mentioned above, the meeting was also attended by SR Balasubramoniyan from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Anil Jain, Neeraj Shekhar, Bhupender Yadav, Ranjeetsinha Hindurao Naik-Nimbalka, RK Singh Patel, Sanjay Yadav and Satya Pal Singh from the BJP. Dulal Chandra Goswami, JD(U), Thiru Dayanidhi Maran, DMK, and Faizal Mohammed from the NCP were also present.
