September 20, 2020
Kalyan Banerjee speaks during discussion under Rule 193 on COVID-19 pandemic in the country
FULL TRANSCRIPT
First of all, I salute and offer my deep condolences to all the COVID-19 warriors who lost their lives fighting against the highly infectious coronavirus disease. I also offer my condolences to the families of all those who died or suffered from the disease. I also express my heartiest thanks to the Honourable Speaker who has made all these arrangements and given a tremendous effort towards the running of the Parliament.
Before I go into the merit of the debate,let me tell the Honourable Health Minister, that yesterday you made a statement that the Ayushman Bharat Scheme has not been implemented by Bengal. On September 9, 2020, our Honourable Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written a letter to you. It was stated that on different occasions it had been heard that the Government of West Bengal had not implemented the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, launched by the Central Government, in which connection it should be appreciated that much before the launching of Ayushman Bharat, the State Government had introduced free treatment and highly subsidised medicine and diagnostic services in all government hospitals.
The letter went on to say that subsequently, the State Government launched the Swasthya Sathi Scheme that not only provides free medicine and diagnostic services in all government hospitals but also free treatment. However, it was also categorically stated that the rules say that the funding for Ayushman Bharat, started by the Government of India at entirely its own expenditure, may be routed through the State Government.
Sir, yesterday, unfortunately, the Honourable Finance Minister made a statement that the total figure for the number of migrant labourers has not been given by the government of West Bengal. It may be noted that the information was conveyed in a letter to the secretary of the Rural Development Ministry of the Central Government on June 23 2020, wherein the details on migrant labourers were given. The details are as follows: 13,84,693 in total of which 13,075 were from Alipurduar district, 32,842 from Bankura, 12,884 from Birbhum and 1,43,000 from Cooch Behar. I will lay the details on the table with your permission, Sir.
Therefore, I say that the Honourable Finance Minister has a very closed mind towards Bengal. For COVID-19, Bengal’s overview is: Total number of tests is 75,44,862, total number of cases is 2,21,962, number of active cases is 24,648, total number of deaths is 4,298, positivity rate is 8.9 per cent, which for India is 8.5 per cent, discharge rate is 86.86 per cent, which for India is 77.93 per cent, death rate is 1.9 per cent, which for India is 1.64 per cent.
The testing status is: 53 government laboratories, 73 private labs, 29 RT-PCR test facilities; testing percentage is 81 per cent in government hospitals, 90 per cent in private hospitals and average daily testing is 45 per cent.
Infrastructure for COVID treatment: 92 dedicated hospitals of which 37 are government hospitals and 55 are requisitioned private hospitals. Oxygen beds, ICCU and ICU facilities are also there. We in Bengal also have 200 Safe Homes, which contain 11,507 beds, whose occupancy, however, is only 25 per cent.
Special initiatives have been taken by a group of medical experts, there is a protocol monitoring team, a team of external experts, an expert committee for a COVID patient management system, a plasma bank, usage of cord blood for COVID treatment, COVIS warrior clubs, community surveys for prevalence of SARI and ILI, special integrated helplines, etc.
A special insurance scheme has also been launched by the State Government for COVID-19 care providers, including healthcare workers, police, ambulance drivers and others. It has provision for a one-time assistance of Rs 10 lakh. In the case of death, one family member is provided a government job under the Special Employment Scheme. If any COVID-19 care provider gets infected with the disease, he/she is provided treatment free of cost and Rs 1 lakh as compensation amount. Till date, death compensation has been provided to the next of kin of 26 people at the rate of Rs 10 lakh per person, and other assistance to around 3,200 people.
Sir, so far as the migrant workers are concerned, during the period of lockdown, a total 15.4 lakh came back to Bengal from the States of Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu. We scheduled for and received 326 special trains and hundreds of special State transport buses. We have set up around 1,524 relief camps. We have also facilitated the returning home of around 4.5 lakh migrant labourers from other States stranded in Bengal by scheduling a larger number of special trains.
Direct financial assistance was provided to stranded migrant workers through a special programme called Sneher Porosh, under which a total of Rs 36 crore has been debited to the bank accounts of around 4.6 lakh people. There is another scheme called Prochesta, under which financial support is given to migrant workers of Bengal stranded inside various places in Bengal. Under this scheme, 2.5 lakh people have been covered. Around 302 special quarantine centres have been set up. Regarding administrative measures, the State Government could not do much more than was done as it was the responsibility of the Central Government to do much more.
This is the biggest pandemic ever in the world and it has caused a number of problems and caused loss of livelihood for many people. The COVID-19 infection is a cause of concern for the whole world. We must unitedly fight it out. I would request the Health Minister to give credit not just to the Prime Minister but to the entire nation, including all the health workers, COVID workers, all the Chief Ministers and everyone else who are fighting the disease at various levels. He should not take the name of only the Prime Minister.
Sir, this government has wasted golden opportunities to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. The World Health Organisation first gave warning in December, 2019, saying a mysterious virus is being spread from China, in whose neighbourhood China lies. Our Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee said in March: “I have asked the Centre to stop all international flights immediately.” But all these were not heard by the Centre. Moreover, I must say that Bengal was the first state in the country to put certain restrictions on people entering the State, from March 23, 2020. As of September 19, our country has crossed the 54-lakh mark with respect to the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection, with around 43 lakh people having recovered. The continuous spread of the infection is a cause of concern for the whole country.
Sir, I am not going to blame anyone today. It’s not the time to play blame games with each other, it is the time to fight the disease together. I feel we should recognise each other—the Centre, the States and the States, the Centre. I heard the speech of the Honourable Prime Minister, who said this fight is of the entire country and not of any individual alone. But unfortunately, our Health Minister has made it a fight only for the Prime Minister; it should not be this way. Even the Prime Minister says that this is a fight for the entire country, not for him alone
All steps have been taken, everything has been done as best as possible. We do not know exactly how the disease will pan out in the future, whether it would become more severe or not. We have to fight this fight by going beyond party politics.
Sir, those who made statements yesterday to put Bengal down, I have given him the answer regarding migrant workers. The person never went to his district, he stayed for five months in Delhi and just gave big speeches. He never provided any sort of assistance to the people fighting the disease.
The MPLAD fund is required for the MPs in the present scenario, and not providing it is a crucial problem. We are not getting our GST due and neither the other dues which the Centre owes us. Therefore, the MPLAD fund is necessary for meeting the COVID-19 expenses. Even Rs 1 crore of the MPLAD fund has not been released yet.
I therefore request the Centre, through you, Sir, to give the States funds from the PM CARES Fund. Why won’t you give it to the States? Why should you be so discretionary about it?
To fight the COVID-19 crisis, the Central Government should pay the GST arrears to the State governments as they are under the tremendous financial burden. The Prime Minister always says, “na khaunga, na khane dunga”; why then is there so much reluctance about publishing the fund details of the PM CARES Fund?
Sir we are in the midst of the biggest economic crisis the world has ever seen. This pandemic has devastated economies around the world and has wrought havoc on international trade. The Indian economy depends mainly on the manufacturing sector, service sector, exports and foreign investments, and all of these four pillars have been hit hard. So the priorities of the government should be ensuring a soft landing of the economy and the preservation of livelihoods during the inevitable economic contraction.
I request the Honourable Finance Minister to please, review your views, take the correct path and allot the money due to Bengal.
Thank you, Sir for giving me the chance to speak.
