NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, APRIL 20
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani as part of his exercise to get feedback from Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly on Monday discussed the situation in Rajkot and Bhavnagar about the arrangements made for food and stay of the factory workers at their workplace following relaxation during the second phase of lockdown from April 20 to May 3, 2020, a government official said.
While reviewing the latest situation to check spread of novel coronavirus COVID-19 with the people’s representatives through video-conferencing from his residence here, Rupani inquired if the steps taken by the administration were adequate.
The government had allowed factories relaxed lockdown away from big cities. Rupani today discussed the situation particularly in Veraval, Shapar, Padala, Alang and other areas.
They included BJP state president and MLA Jitubhai Vaghani, Minister of State Vibhawariben Dave, MPs Mohanbhai Kundariya, Bhartiben Shiyal, Rameshbhai Dhaduk, MLAs Govindbhai Patel, Arvindbhai Raiyyani, Lakhabhai among others.
They praised the work of police, health and other department staff in the treatment of virus and in distribution of free food grains to the poor, needy and middle-class.
Double whammy: Villagers thrash 3 on suspicion of theft, police arrest victims for violating lockdown
Three persons were attacked with sticks and stones in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district by villagers on suspicion that they were thieves, police said on Monday.
However, unlike the Palghar mob lynching incident in neighbouring Maharashtra wherein three persons were beaten to death last week, the trio in Gujarat survived the attack as the villagers allowed them to go.
While the accused are yet to be nabbed, Godhra Taluka police have arrested the injured victims for violating the coronavirus lockdown norms, an official said.
The incident occurred on Sunday night when a mob stopped a pick-up truck near Bhamaiya village in Godhra taluka of Panchmahal district and attacked its occupants Bharatsinh Vakhala, Vikram Bariya and Lalabhai Salat on suspicion that they were thieves.
“When the trio, who hailed from Dahod district, reached near Bhamaiya village in their pick up truck on Sunday night, villagers mistook them as thieves and attacked them,” said police inspector Sanjay Gameti.
In the FIR lodged with Godhra taluka police on Monday morning, Vakhala said he was a farmer and was headed to Sevalia village in Kheda district with two others to buy dry grass for cattle.
“Some villagers stopped our vehicle and accused us of being thieves. Despite our pleading that we are not thieves, they thrashed us with sticks and stones. They damaged our pick-up truck also,” stated the FIR.
The trio sustained injuries on their heads. However, they were lucky to be alive as the villagers
allowed them to go.
Gameti said the accused are yet to be arrested. However, the three victims were arrested for violating the lockdown norms and booked under section 188 (Defying order promulgated by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), he added.
25 COVID-19 patients made to wait on road without food, admitted to hospital after 6 hours in Ahmedabad
Nearly 25 coronavirus patients were forced to spend hours on a street after they were denied admission at the Ahmedabad civil hospital, prompting the Gujarat government to rush senior health officials there to resolve the matter.
The patients were later admitted to the hospital after being out on road for about six hours.
The matter came to light on Sunday night after one of the patients recorded her plight on the mobile phone and shared it on social media platforms.
In the viral video, shot around 8.45 pm on Sunday, some men and women were purportedly seen standing outside the civil hospital and claiming that they were coronavirus patients, waiting since 3 pm to get admitted.
“We are total of 25 persons whose coronavirus reports came out positive yesterday. We are waiting outside the civil hospital from 3 pm. Its already 8.45 pm. We have not even had food. We are made to wait outside and no one is giving us a response. Please help us,” the woman said in her video.
State principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi on Monday said as soon as they came to know about the issue, senior officials, including health commissioner Jai Prakash Shivahare, rushed to the civil hospital and accommodated the patients at the medical facility.
They were also given food after they were admitted in the hospital on Sunday, she told reporters in Gandhinagar.
“For admission, patients were supposed to bring their case papers. But, there were some discrepancies in those papers, which created problem in data entry. Our officials resolved the issue and admitted the patients. We will make sure such incidents do not take place in future,” she added.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia slammed the state government over the ‘plight’ of a police constable admitted to the civil hospital a few days back after his coronavirus test report came out positive.
The constable called the police control room two days back, claiming he was asked to sleep on the hospital’s floor. He also said there was no ceiling fan at the place where he was lodged in the hospital.
The issue came to fore after a brief note of his message to the police control room went viral on Sunday.
“Is this how we want to treat our Corona Warriors? A policeman was not given a bed in the hospital. Government must do something about it,” Modhwadia tweeted on Sunday.
Responding to it, the state government shared some videos of the hospital to clarify that patients were given the best treatment.
In one of the videos, the constable who had complained was seen on a bed and surrounded by doctors.
He was even seen thanking the hospital staff and the government on behalf of Ahmedabad police.
