In an interview to Preetha Nair, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren talks about the state’s preparedness and the Centre’s alleged negligence in providing assistance. Excerpts:
The PM has asked all states to come up with an exit strategy.
The states weren’t consulted before announcing the lockdown, so it’s strange that we are being asked for suggestions on the exit strategy. During the video conference with the PM last week, I didn’t even get a chance to talk about my state’s problems. We will assess the situation and decide the strategy accordingly.
Is Jharkhand conducting sufficient tests?
We don’t know which stage we are in, but once we accelerate our testing, we will come to know. We have been writing to the Centre since March 21 that we need more testing kits, PPEs, ventilators, masks, thermal scanners etc. We asked for 300 thermal scanners, but got only 100—that too, only three days ago. We must have scanners in police stations, government offices and at least one in every panchayat. We demanded 75,000 PPEs and got 5,000. And very few testing kits. How will we do more testing when we don’t have enough kits? We have only 8 PPR machines, of which just four are operational now. The rest await ICMR approval. We also seek ICMR approval to operate private labs. If we don’t act now, we will face the consequences in the coming months. A poor state like us will have to pay a huge price if we are not medically prepared. We have about 6-7 lakh migrants working in other states. If the Centre lifts the lockdown, a huge number will return and we are not prepared for it. It will also cause financial distress.
What have you done to control the pandemic?
We are following the protocol of tracing and quarantine. We have so far traced two lakh people, and stamped 170. We have formed village committees to identify those who are working outside the state. When they come back, they will be quarantined or isolated.
Is the Centre providing adequate financial assistance?
The Centre owes us Rs 450 crore in GST dues. Our MNREGA dues run into Rs 600 crore. We just got the first instalment of Rs 100 crore. As part of the State Disaster Risk Management Fund, we got Rs 284 crore. The government shouldn’t indulge in politics at this time.
