Delhi govt, BJP spar over state of hospitals

New Delhi: The second day of the assembly’s monsoon session began with an uproar as leader of opposition Vijender Gupta raised the issues of shortage of medicines, surgical consumables and equipment in government hospitals.

During the question hour, Gupta said the government had completely failed on health fronts even after declaring in January 2016 that hospitals would have 100% medicines.

The uproar continued for some time and the question hour finally went ahead after speaker Ram Niwas Goel appealed to the MLAs not to waste the assembly’s precious time. Nineteen starred and 72 un-starred questions were listed for the question hour.

In response to a question, deputy CM Manish Sisodia said it was mandatory for the liquor shops to have CCTV cameras and action would be taken against any shop if cameras are not functioning. MLAs also raised issues of ration cards and development work in unauthorised colonies.

MLA Manoj Kumar raised the issue of illegal slaughter house causing polluting acid rain in Ghazipur. “White particles can be seen floating in the air in the area due to pollution,” he said.

BJP’s Gupta said that though the Supreme Court had directed the state governments in 2013 to ban sale of acid and enact necessary legal provisions, the Delhi government was yet to make much progress. “It is not surprising that the acid is being sold freely even in lanes and bylanes of the city. Since the SC order, there have been more than 30 incidents of acid-related crimes,” he said.

The speaker expressed condolences on the death of assistance sub-inspector Tanzir Ali (50) who died while on duty in the CM parking area.