How did that happen?

Reference to ‘Karnal oxygen plant installed under PM Cares Fund stops working’; such a worrisome scenario calls for carrying out an urgent audit by an independent agency to reveal the truth behind such an unsavoury development. How could such a vital plant go out of order in such a short span of time? There may not be many buyers of the authorities’ reported claim that the engineers of the agency hired by the Centre had got stranded in Mumbai, and later in Delhi due to lockdown since it is learnt that there are no restrictions on inter-state movement of individuals in Haryana, provided they carry all valid documents. The plant should be put back into immediate operation.

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Vinayak G, Panchkula

Adamant villagers

Refer to ‘Health officials visit villages under police cover’; it is unfortunate that villagers are reluctant to take vaccination or get tested for Covid. They are not cooperating with the health teams and try to block their entry to the village. To spur the vaccination drive, the Punjab CM has announced Rs 10 lakh grant for those villages who get fully immunised. Grant or no grant, all villagers should get vaccinated. Similar adamant and non-cooperative attitude of their brethren at Delhi borders is not allowing an early resolution of the matter. They can register their protest by wearing black badges, which is a better, more peaceful and a well-accepted option of protest.

Wg Cdr CL Sehgal (Retd), Jalandhar

Farmers’ protest

Farmers’ agitation has continued for many months now. Every effort to satisfy them has proved futile. To protest against the government is our constitutional right, but to create anarchy is unconstitutional. It creates many problems for the general public. The farmers protested when the Haryana CM was inaugurating a Covid hospital in Hisar. Their demands may be justified but to oppose the inauguration of a hospital is not justified. In this pandemic when even poor people are serving patients as per their capabilities, these farmers are hampering government efforts. This will hit their credibility.

Narender K Sharma, Joginder Nagar

Stand by doctors

Though even fully vaccinated, well-informed and those who have been religiously following all Covid protocols have succumbed to the disease, but this doesn’t mean that we should undermine the need and usefulness of the vaccines (‘Save the life-savers’). The death of a senior cardiologist, Dr KK Aggarwal, is indeed a bolt from the blue. So that his death may not demoralise many, especially doctors, the government should assure all members of the medical fraternity that it stands by them in these testing times.

Sunil Chopra, Ludhiana

Dealing with black fungus

The recent spurt in cases of mucormycosis, or black fungus, should ring alarm bells among the authorities and the medical fraternity alike. Since this deadly infection warrants specialised treatment quickly, Haryana has done well to notify its medical colleges for urgent care and cure. Only concerted efforts can help. The union government should declare it a notified disease, making it imperative that the government authorities be informed about each case. Experts claim that the overuse of steroids in treating Covid is the culprit. To curb indiscriminate use/misuse of steroids, manufacturers should be mandated to specify steroid content in all formulations with a caution in bold letters that steroids may be injurious to health. Such medicines should be sold only on prescription by an MD specialist.

Lalit Bharadwaj, Panchkula

Covid in rural India

Rural India has been devastated by the second wave of Covid-19. There is a lack of infrastructure due to which severe patients are referred to city hospitals. In Bihar, 37 people of a village died in just 27 days due to Covid, which shows the impact of the virus in rural areas. There is a lack of testing infrastructure and medical staff in the rural areas. In rural areas of Gujarat, patients are treated in open fields. The government must devise a strategy at the rural level to fight such pandemics.

Ritish Pandit, Sunhet

Bengal violence

This refers to ‘Didi announces Rs 2 lakh for post-poll violence victims’. Mamata Banerjee says that the BJP must accept the people’s mandate. It is rather the reverse: Mamata must accept the presence of opposition parties in West Bengal. In fact, it is she who is unable to digest that a major opposition party has won 78 seats in her state in the recent polls. She is indirectly initiating, inspiring and supporting the hooligans in creating a post-election terror in the minds of those who still think that ‘opposition party’ in a democratic setup is a part of the government itself.

Rohtash Gupta, Kurukshetra

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