The India Post, Chandigarh, 3rd November, 2008 :Secretary All India Congress Committee and party spokesman, Manish Tewari today lashed out at the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharitya Janata Party government for its failure to contain the spread of dengue in the city. Tewari also flayed the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for his oft repeated ‘sangat darshans’, which he said, instead of solving the problems of the people led to lot of harassment only. In a statement issued after an extensive tour of the city and the surrounding areas, Tewari said, he was shocked to learn that almost all the areas of the city had been trapped in the dengue which had assumed epidemic proportions. He said, the government had failed to respond to the situation and there was panic among the people. Tewari pointed out, no measures were taken either for preventing thespread of the disease or providing any relief to the effected people. He said, even the hospitals were ill equipped.
He disclosed that the facilities at the government hospitals were abysmally poor. He said, while the Chief Minister had tried to prove too generous and magnanimous for announcing free treatment for the dengue patients, but there had not been any follow up action. "I would ask Mr Badal to tell the public that where should they go for the treatment of dengue where they would be treated for free?", Tewari asked, while adding, providing free treatment was too far, no basic treatment was available to the people.
The AICC spokesman criticized Badal for his frequent sangat darshan programmes in the city which only led to too much of harassment to the general public. He said, these sangat darshans hardly serve any purpose except for leading to harassment to the people. He said, the entire administration comes to a standstill when Mr Badal is in the town and he is in the town too frequently. "I have been told and which I have myself confirmed, that the officials are not available in their offices for days together as they are deputed around Mr Badal who is too often in the city", he said, while appealing to Badal to have some pity on the people and the officials and keep away from Ludhaina for sometime now so that they can heave a sigh of relief.