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Six new Covid-19 cases in Kerala, CM Pinarayi Vijayan denies rift with Centre
Earlier in the day, the state was forced to withdraw some concessions announced to ease the lockdown after the Union Government toughened its stand saying these measures would be against its earlier directive to implement the lockdown till May 3.
Six new cases have been reported in Kerala on Monday even as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made it clear that the state had no differences with the Centre on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier in the day, the state was forced to withdraw some concessions announced to ease the lockdown after the Union Government toughened its stand saying these measures would be against its earlier directive to implement the lockdown till May 3.
“We have been following the directive of the union government. There is no tiff or differences with the Centre,” he said adding some of the directives of the state were misunderstood due to some confusion. He said the state has no plan to allow dining in restaurants and barber shops will not be allowed till the lockdown was lifted.
The CM said all the new cases were reported from Kannur in north Kerala, one of the four districts in the red zone. Out of 408 total cases, 286 have been discharged and 46,323 people are under observation in the state. He said the state has the best recovery and least mortality rates in the country.
When asked about the Sprinklr controversy, the CM refused to say anything. “I have better things to do. I don’t have any plan to go after such controversies,” he said. The Opposition Congress has sought his resignation saying the state’s valuable data was handed over to an American software firm.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in the state, the state IT department had inked an agreement with the US firm to process a huge volume of data collected by grassroot health workers of the state. Though no money was involved in the contract the opposition alleged that it was a breach of privacy and vital data. Later, it was found that the state cabinet and law department were not consulted before signing the deal and the data firm had tied up with many global pharmaceutical giants.
As the controversy flared up, state IT secretary M Shivasankar, also the CM’s private secretary told the media on Saturday that he had taken the decision personally, as the pandemic situation was getting out of control in the state. Later, he also appeared in a promotional video of the deal which was removed from the Sprinklr’s website after the controversy cropped up.
“We direly needed an entry that could wet a considerable amount of health data to identify the infection pattern to streamline the containment strategy. Spirnklr agreed to provide the service without charge. The arrangement did not warrant the prior vetting of the finance or legal departments. It was my decision at a desperate time,” he said justifying the deal. But the opposition said he owned up to save the Chief Minister.
