New Delhi: The Delhi government on Wednesday drastically slashed the price of Covid-19 RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen tests. At the same time, L-G Anil Baijal headed a meeting with senior officials, including the Chief Secretary, over the Covid preparations for a possible third wave. And this has now resulted in yet another tussle between the Delhi government and the L-G's office, which have only got more bitter since the GNCTD Act was amended by the Centre to give the L-G more executive authority.
Within minutes of the L-G's office tweeting about the Covid review meeting with senior Delhi government officials, the chief minister retweeted it, writing above, "It is against Constitution n SC CB judgement to hold such parallel meetings behind the back of elected govt. We r a democracy. People hv elected a Council of Ministers. If u have any Qs, pl ask ur ministers. Avoid holding direct meetings wid officers. Lets respect democracy, Sir."
Soon, CM Kejriwal's deputy, Manish Sisodia also took to Twitter to highlight what the Delhi government feels about the L-G holding meetings without purportedly informing them about it. He said, "Despite the Constitution and Supreme Court Judgment, what covid management is being done by bypassing the elected government? The LG sahib has no right to convene a separate meeting of officers behind the chief minister's back. Then, by what authority and for what purpose was this meeting convened?"
Moreover, senior party leader and MLA Raghav Chadha also tweeted on the issue, asserting that the L-G does not have the powers to convene meetings with officials of the Delhi government without informing the CMO or the Council of Ministers.
A senior official from the CMO here said that the CM's remarks had come because this was not the first time that such a meeting has happened. "Earlier also the office was not informed and meetings have taken place. To discuss possibilities of a third wave is a serious matter and all stakeholders should be involved," the official said, requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, the L-G's office tweeted the developments from the abovementioned Covid review meeting. He said that he had asked Health Department officials to ensure commissioning of all PSA plants by August 31 and to keep a buffer stock of medicines and directed officials to test in larger numbers in the markets as the spread of the virus can be more at such places.
The meeting was attended by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, the additional chief secretary(home and health), divisional commissioner, secretary (health), MD-DMRC and other officials concerned.
"Stressed on the need for coordinated action by all stakeholders for effective management of COVID-19," Baijal added in the Twitter thread about the meeting. Meanwhile, the city on Wednesday reported 67 new cases and zero deaths from the virus, with the daily positivity rate at 0.09 per cent. Active cases here have now come down to 513.