Rahul accuses Centre of hiding data of foreign aid

New Delhi: Accusing the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of hiding data regarding foreign aid received during the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asked why there is no transparency regarding the medical supplies sent from across the world.

"Questions about Covid foreign aid: What all supplies has India received? Where are they? Who is benefiting from them? How are they allocated to states? Why no transparency? Any answers, GOI?" the Congress MP said in a tweet.

Earlier in the day, quoting a news report about the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data regarding the unemployment rate in the country, Gandhi slammed the BJP government at the Centre and said that it failed in the fight against COVID-19.

"There are neither vaccines nor employment. The public is facing the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. The Modi government absolutely failed," he tweeted in Hindi. Notably, Gandhi had repeatedly criticised the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by the Central government and Prime Minister Modi.

On Tuesday, he had targeted the BJP-led government over its going ahead with the Central vista project even as the country has been hit by a second wave of COVID-19, saying that the amount could be used for fully vaccinating 45 crore Indians or for procuring one crore oxygen cylinders.

It's worth mentioning that the Health Ministry has not given details about the foreign aid being distributed to the states. Though, the Health Ministry, it its official statement release, had mentioned the names of the states and Central institutions where the government has planned to allocate Covid-19 relief material received from foreign countries.

However, Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal on Wednesday said that the relief materials coming from abroad was being monitored by a group of senior officials and sent to hospitals which need it immediately.