In the wake of a crippling wave of Covid-19 pandemic, the Uttarakhand High Court slammed the state government for failing to ensure Covid protocols during the Kumbh Mela and Char Dham Yatra on Friday.
In the midst of the escalating second wave of Covid-19, the High Court bench also found that the Centre was not paying attention to the medical needs of people in remote areas of the province, accusing it of treating the hill state like a stepchild.
Hearing a slew of PILs about the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, a division bench led by Chief Justice R S Chauhan and Justice Alok Verma chastised the Uttarakhand government for allowing the Kumbh Mela first, then Char Dham, and told them to “go and see what’s going on.”
In light of Covid-19, the court took notice of crowd control mechanisms in place at Char Dham shrines, asking, “Why do we keep causing shame to ourselves?” You can deceive the judge, but you can’t deceive the public. There is a reality out there. The court said, “You are playing with the lives of millions of people in this country.”
The court also inquired about crowd control initiatives implemented at Char Dham temples that recently opened for daily prayers. The number of people assigned to perform duties at each temple was revealed to the court by Tourism Secretary Dilip Jawalkar.
However, the court stated that social media shows a different story. It was also noted that no one was adhering to the crowd control measures. It advised Jawalkar to fly to Chardham on the next chopper and find out the facts.
The high court also ordered the state’s health secretary to lobby the federal government to provide 1,000 oxygen concentrators and other necessities for Covid treatment, especially in rural areas where medical services are sparse.
The state is being compelled to import 40% of its allotted quota of 183 MT from Durgapur and Jamshedpur, prompting the high court to challenge the rationality of the Centre’s oxygen distribution scheme.
