Ruckus in Assam Assembly over-vaccination drives

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The State Assembly witnessed a noisy ruckus on the Covid-19 vaccination drive on Friday when the ruling and the Opposition members had to spar over verbal blows.

While the Opposition was charging the government on the slow pace of vaccination, the ruling party accused the Congress of indulging in a negative campaign on the vaccination drive at the initial stage, affecting the inoculation.

During the Question Hour, Leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia wanted to know the percentage of people vaccinated against the target in the State. He said that even though the number of vaccine doses applied in the State seems to be high, the percentage of vaccinated people against the target is low. "If the vaccination drive in the State goes on at this pace, it will take more than two years to achieve the target," he said.

Saikia also wanted to know if the Government has any plan to tackle Covid-19 infection among children. Already 36,000 children were infected with the COVID-19 in the State.

In his reply to the questions raised, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said, "The Congress wants to confuse the people of the State on the vaccination drive. So far, 85 lakh vaccine doses – 70.71 lakh first dose and 14.30 lakh second doses – have been inoculated in the State. The vaccination target in the State is 2.37 crore, and we have achieved 30 per cent of the target.

"Though we've built up the capacity to vaccinate 5 lakh people daily, it all depends on the supply of vaccines from the Centre. We've entrusted the MLAs to see the vaccination in their respective LACs."

The Opposition members stood on their feet then and said that the Government had not entrusted any of them with the vaccination drive. Some of them said that the people of their constituencies have been crying for vaccines. They demanded of the department to provide vaccines for the people of their LACs.

At one point, IPR Minister Pijush Hazarika accused Congress of indulging in a campaign against the vaccination drive at the initial stage, leading to a delay in the process, besides the damage of a large number of vaccine doses.

The agitated Opposition members then started shouting in full throttle. Kesab Mahanta was trying to make them not get across a wrong message from the august House. When the situation went out of control, the Speaker had to adjourn the House.

Also Read: Assam Assembly Budget Session 2021-22 Update: Key Highlights & Takeaways

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