Thiruvananthapuram | The Congress-led UDF opposition in Kerala on Friday slammed the ruling-LDF government in the state over the condition of its public health system and the Sabarimala gold issue, alleging failures on the part of the Left administration in both cases.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, at a press conference here said that Kollam-native Venu, who died at the Government Medical College Hospital two days ago, was "the latest victim of the failure of the public health system".
Satheesan claimed that Venu, who arrived at the medical college from Kollam following a heart attack, was not treated for over 24 hours and this was clear from the family's reaction and an audio message the patient had recorded before his death.
The opposition leader contended that it was not an isolated incident, but one of many, including lack of medicines and equipment, that were being reported from government medical colleges and hospitals across the state.
He demanded that state Health Minister Veena George should resign as the health system broke down after she took charge.
Satheesan also questioned why the government was unable to pay the medical services corporation and private companies for the medicines and surgical equipment procured from them, if the state was not in an economic crisis as claimed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Finance Minister K N Balagopal.
"The companies are now taking back the surgical equipment provided by them due to non-payment of dues," he claimed.
He further claimed that joint registrars of the Cooperative Department are knocking on the doors of various cooperative banks in the state for a loan of Rs 2,000 crore in order to fulfil the various welfare financial packages and schemes recently announced by the government.
"The state has been pushed into a huge debt trap by this government," he alleged.
"All they (government) say before the public are pure lies," he added.
Satheesan said that the government claimed it was going to send a letter to the Centre informing it that the PM SHRI memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by it would be freezed for the time being.
"Till now no letter has been written or sent to the Centre. It was just a tactic to fool the CPI. If the government lacks typists or stenographers or computer operators, we will provide the same so that they can type that letter," the opposition leader said, taking a dig at the ruling LDF.
He asked that if the state Cabinet has decided to freeze the implementation of the PM SHRI, "how many hours or days does it take to frame a letter?" Regarding the Sabarimala gold issue, Satheesan said that the findings in the recent Kerala High Court order indicates that what the opposition was saying till now was correct.
He said that the High Court has opined that there was an art theft racket, similar to those happening in international level, going on at Sabarimala.
Satheesan also claimed that a former Devaswom Commissioner, who was then re-appointed as the president of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) was reportedly involved in the irregularities in the temple with regard to the gold plating of various artefacts there.
He alleged that the government was pressurising the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to protect Vasu and other such officials from arrest.
The opposition leader reiterated his demand for the resignation of Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan and the dissolution of the current TDB, alleging that they were also complicit in allowing Bengaluru-based businessman Unnikrishnan Potty access to the temple artefacts despite being aware of his antecedents.
The SIT probing the loss of gold from the Sabarimala temple on Thursday arrested former Thiruvabharanam (sacred ornament) commissioner K S Baiju.
Baiju is the third Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) official to be arrested in the case, after former TDB administrative officer B Murari Babu and former TDB executive officer Sudheesh Kumar.
The prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potty, was the first person to be arrested in the matter and is currently in SIT custody.
The SIT is investigating two related cases concerning the loss of gold -- one from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and another from the door frame of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum)
