News Analysis India

Tag: Rajasthan

  • Rajasthan mulling to float global tenders to procure COVID-19 vaccines: Health Minister

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government is exploring the possibility of purchasing COVID-19 vaccines from other countries through global tenders, Health Minister Raghu Sharma said on Wednesday.

    Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, however, said it would have been better if the central government had procured the vaccines by floating global tenders and distributing them to states.

    “On directions from the chief minister, the officers are exploring the possibilities of global tenders to purchase COVID vaccines,” Sharma said.

    He said there are 2.09 crore beneficiaries above the age of 45 years in the state and 4.5 crore doses were required to vaccinate them but the state has only 1.5 crore doses.

    For people in the 18-44 age group, 7 crore doses are needed, he said.

    “We placed orders for 3.75 crore doses but the supply is just in lakhs. There is a situation of uncertainty about the vaccines, therefore our officers are now exploring the possibility of global tenders for the vaccine purchase,” Sharma said.

    Meanwhile, Gehlot said several states were floating global tenders to procure vaccines due to lack of doses in the country.

    He said that the system of “one-stop procurement” would be in the interest of all the states.

    “It would have been better if the central government had procured the vaccines through global tenders, distributed them in the states and asked the state governments to pay,” Gehlot said in a tweet in Hindi.

    “However, the demand of the people is that the vaccine should be provided absolutely free by the central government. The system of one-stop procurement would be better for all states,” he said.

  • UK strain of COVID-19 found in Rajasthan: Health Minister

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: The UK strain of COVID-19 has been found in the samples sent from Rajasthan for genome sequencing, the state government said on Wednesday According to the state’s Health Minister Raghu Sharma, the reports were received a couple of days back.

    “We had sent samples for genome sequencing. In the samples, UK strain was found,” Sharma said.

    On the directions of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, officials have started the process of setting up genome sequencing facility at the Swai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College in Jaipur, he said.

    “Once we know about the strain and other details, the line of treatment may be updated accordingly,” he said.

    Active COVID-19 cases in Rajasthan have reached 2.05 lakh while a total of 5,994 people have died due to the viral disease so far.

    The state has reported a total of 7,89,274 COVID cases.

  • Nurse in Jaipur hospital arrested for taking bribe to arrange ICU bed for COVID patient

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: Amid escalating Covid crisis, ICU beds are allegedly being sold off for hefty bribes at RUHS Hospital in Jaipur, the biggest facility in Rajasthan. The Anti-Corruption Bureau of Rajasthan arrested a male nurse deputed at Metro Mass Hospital after he was caught red-handed while taking Rs 23000 from the family of a Covid patient on Saturday.

    The accused, identified as Ashok Kumar Gurjar, had allegedly colluded with two doctors at RUHS and had also demanded Rs 2 lakh to secure an ICU bed for a female patient. 

    Gurjar was demanding the bribe amount to help a family get an ICU bed and other facilities for a 53-year-old patient at the government-run RUHS Hospital. Ashok had already taken Rs 95000 from the family before he was trapped by the ACB sleuths. He has been booked under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Further investigation is going on.

    Accused nurse Ashok Kumar GurjarDG, ACB BL Soni said that the family of the patient had approached the agency on Friday following which a complaint was registered. Add SP, ACB Bajrang Singh verified the basic complaint and then a team was formed under the supervision of DSP Kamal Nayan.

    Resident of Bayana town in Bharatpur district, the accused had originally demanded two lakh rupees from the family but eventually settled at Rs 1.3 lakh. He had allegedly established a nexus with two doctors at RUHS but the ACB is still in the process of verifying all the facts. The ACB teams are also carrying out searches at their residences and other places. 

    In his initial interrogation, the male nurse has confessed that he was in touch with one Dr. Narendra who was originally at Metro Mass Hospital but is now working at RUHS. He had reportedly called Dr. Narendra who further put him in touch with a Dr Manish at RUHS. He has also revealed that once the woman patient was given an ICU bed at RUHS on May 3, Dr. Manish had immediately pocketed Rs. 50, 000. The male nurse had also claimed to the victim family that to get ICU beds, he has connections with people at the top and he needs a hefty amount as the same has to be shared with those in top positions.

    He has been sent to judicial custody while the ACB will hold an interrogation of the doctors named by the male nurse on Monday.

    The DG of ACB, BL Soni said that the agency is keeping an eye on those who are attempting to extort desperate and helpless family members of Covid-19 patients.

  • Rajasthan: Woman jumps on funeral pyre of father, who died of COVID-19; hospitalised

    By PTI
    BARMER: In a tragic incident, a 34-year-old woman sustained severe burns here after she jumped on the funeral pyre of her father, who died after contracting COVID-19, police said on Wednesday.

    Damodardas Sharda (73) passed away at a hospital here on Tuesday after suffering from the viral disease, they said.

    While Sharda was being cremated, the youngest of his three daughters, Chandra Sharda, suddenly jumped on the pyre, the police said, adding that although she was pulled out of it by people, she sustained around 70 per cent burn injuries.

    She was rushed to a nearby hospital and from there, referred to Jodhpur for treatment, they said.

    “Damodardas Sharda had three daughters. His wife passed away some time back. The youngest of the sisters jumped on the funeral pyre,” Station House Officer, Kotwali police station, Prem Prakash said.

    Sharda, a resident of Rai Colony of Barmer, was admitted to the district hospital on Sunday.

    The police officer said the youngest daughter had insisted to go to crematorium for the last rites.

  • Rajasthan Assembly bypolls: Ruling Congress wins two seats, BJP one

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: The ruling Congress won two seats, while the BJP got the third, in the bypolls for the Rajasthan Assembly. In the counting of votes for the three assembly seats on Sunday, the Congress secured comfortable wins in the Sahada and Sujangarh seats while the BJP retained its hold on the Rajasamand seat.

    In the Sahada seat in Bhilwara district, Congress candidate Gayatri Trivedi defeated the BJP’s Ratanlal Jat by a thumping margin of 42,099 votes.

    In contrast, in Rajasamand, the BJP’s Deepti Maheshwari emerged victorious against her Congress rival Tansukh Bohra by a narrow margin of 5165 votes.

    However, in the Sujangarh seat in Churu district, the BJP suffered a major setback as its candidate finished a poor third. Congress candidate Manoj Meghwal led all through the counting process and defeated the RLP’s Sitaram Nayak by 43,642 votes.

    Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took to Twitter to congratulate the Congress winners even before the election results were officially declared. “Heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to Congress candidate Gayatri Devi from Sahada (Bhilwara) and Manoj Meghwal from Sujangarh (Churu). The Rajsamand by-election was also fought unitedly and the BJP’s victory margin here has been quite modest,” he tweeted in Hindi.

    In addition, CM Gehlot also thanked the voters. “People of the region have given more strength to the Congress government and have paved a way for development. I thank the voters for their blessings and support to the Congress candidates. I also congratulate party workers and leaders,” Gehlot tweeted.

    The BJP had turned these bypolls into a prestige battle by terming this to be a verdict on the Gehlot government’s performance. If the BJP had won two of the three seats, the leadership claims of state BJP Chief Satish Poonia would have been strengthened. But now as the party’s show has been rather ordinary, the camp led by former CM Vasundhara Raje (who stayed aloof from these bypolls) is likely to turn more aggressive. The rift in the state BJP could well intensify further.

    Though the Congress too is plagued with infighting, the verdict is likely to strengthen the hands of CM Gehlot. But with the Sachin Pilot camp lobbying for cabinet expansion and political appointments, hectic political activity is likely even in Congress circles in the next few weeks.

  • Dry weather in Rajasthan; mercury to rise by 4 degrees in next few days

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Rajasthan is likely to experience dry weather for the next few days while the maximum temperature across the state is expected to increase by up to four degrees, a Met department official said on Sunday.

    The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to rise by two to four degrees Celsius during the next 72 hours.

    Also, the weather will be mainly dry for the next five days, the official said.

    A new western disturbance would be active from April 30 and parts of the state will experience duststorms and rain in the first week of May.

    In the last 24 hours, the highest maximum temperature in the state was recorded at Barmer (40.8 degrees Celsius) followed by Banasthali (40.2 degree Celsius).

     

  • Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot convenes cabinet meeting to discuss shortage of oxygen for COVID patients

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Amid rising concern over shortage of oxygen and medicines for COVID-19 patients, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has convened a cabinet meeting on Thursday evening.

    “The issues of short supply of oxygen and shortage of medicines will be specially discussed in the cabinet meeting to be held at 5 pm,” official sources said.

    The state government has requested the Centre for increasing the supply of oxygen in view of the spiralling cases.

    In Rajasthan, there are more than 96,0000 active cases at present and the infection is spreading at a fast speed.

    On Wednesday, 14622 persons had tested positive for the virus and 62 patients died.

  • Three hacked to death in Rajasthan over girl’s elopement with accused

    By PTI
    KOTA: Three men were hacked to death over the elopement of a girl with one of the accused who was already married, police said on Sunday.

    The deceased were identified as Sheojilal Mogya (55) of Rein village in Bundi district, and Gopal Mogya (53) and Mukesh Mogya (30) of Laban village of Bundi district.

    Balu Mogya (30) of Tonk district, one of the 3-4 accused, had eloped with the daughter of the deceased, Sheojilal, around Holi this year.

    However, as Babu Mogya was already married to Sheojilal’s maternal niece, the latter did not want his daughter to get married to Balu, DSP and CO (Itawa) Vijayshankar Sharma said.

    Since wedding through ‘Nata Pratha’ (tradition of having more than one wife through payment to the parents or guardians of the woman) is prevalent among the Mogya tribe, Balu was mounting pressure on Sheojilal for a negotiation but he was not agreeing to it, he added.

    To sort out the dispute, Balu Mogya and Sheojilal along with their aides held a meeting on Saturday in an abandoned field in Khatoli area where Sheojilal and the accused Balu worked as guards under the same contractor, he said.

    They started drinking liquor at noon and a scuffle broke out in the evening in which Sheojilal, and his aides Gopal and Mukesh, were brutally attacked by the accused with sharp weapons and were left in a pool of blood and at around 6 pm.

    After receiving information from some by passersby around 10 pm on Saturday, the police reached the spot from where three persons with fatal injuries were rushed to the hospital.

    Doctors declared the three brought dead, the DSP said adding the three persons were stated to have of excessive bleeding.

    The police lodged a case under section 302 and 34 of the IPC against Balu Mogya, Hansraj Mogya (35) and two others of the Tonk district.

    They also handed over the three bodies to their family members after postmortem on Sunday morning, he further said.

    Three separate police teams have been dispatched to nab the accused, however, they are yet to be traced, he added.

  • Moderate turnout in Rajasthan by-polls amid controversy

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: The by-elections to three assembly seats in Rajasthan went off peacefully on Saturday, with moderate to high turnout recorded across most areas of Rajsamanad, Sahada and Sujangarh constituencies.

    With the coronavirus crisis rapidly exploding across the country, polling was held from 7 am onwards amid strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols and Covid infected patients were also allowed to vote between 5 pm to 6 pm.

    The polling day saw long queues from the morning and by 11 am, around 23 per cent of voters had used their franchise. By the end of the day, Rajsamanad saw  67.18 per cent, Sujhangrah saw 59.20 per cent and in Sahada 56.56 per cent votes were cast. The chief electoral officer Praveen Gupta said all voters had to undergo thermal scanning and wore gloves and masks at polling booths to curb the spread of the Covid-19. 

    The officials also ensured that social distancing norms were followed strictly.

    The voting day also witnessed some controversies as the BJP leaders complained of poll code violations and misuse of government machinery by the ruling Congress. BJP state president Satish Poonia took to Twitter claiming that the Congress had misused government machinery to influence voters. The BJP chief alleged that in one area, local Congress leaders had brought in MNREGA workers to vote in two special buses.

    The Rajsamand assembly constituency was the centre of much controversy as some BJP-Congress workers had clashed on the eve of elections. The BJP also claimed that party leader Diya Kumari, the MP from Rajsamand, was the target of a serious attack though she escaped unhurt. As over 150 BJP workers were arrested by the local police, BJP chief Satish Poonia tweeted,  “The way the government machinery and the police in Rajsamand are being misused, we feel as if we are fighting the election not against the Congress party but the government machinery in the constituency.”

    In the high-stakes battle in Rajsamand, the BJP’s Deepti Maheshwari (the daughter of former minister Kiran Maheshwari who died of Covid-19 last November) is pitted against Congress candidate Tansukh Bohra, a social worker.

    The ruling Congress, however, was quick to dismiss the BJP charges as baseless. Congress President in the state Govind Singh Dotasara said, “The BJP allegations reflect their fear of losing these by-polls. If people are exercising their right to vote quite enthusiastically and the BJP says this is a misuse of government machinery, then it amounts to an insult of our democracy.” 

    On the charge of Corona guidelines not being followed, Dotasara remarked, “As regards to flouting of corona norms, the BJP has no moral right to comment. Just look at how Modi and Shah have violated all norms in Bengal and Assam.”

  • Rajasthan records biggest daily jump of 7,359 COVID-19 cases

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Rajasthan’s COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,95,309 on Friday with a record single-day jump of 7,359 fresh cases, according to an official report.

    Thirty-one more people succumbed to the disease in the state, pushing the death toll to 3,072, the report said.

    Of the latest deaths, Jodhpur and Udaipur recorded five each; Ajmer three; Barmer, Jaipur, Karauli and Sikar two each; and Chittorgarh, Churu, Dholpur, Dausa, Jalore, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunu, Nagaur, Rajsamand and Sawai Madhopur one each.

    The number of active cases in the state stands at 53,813, the report stated. Meanwhile, the weekend curfew began in Rajasthan at 6 pm and will continue till 5 am on Monday. Markets were closed by 5 pm and people were seen rushing back home.

    The state government had announced the weekend curfew after a high-level review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday.

    Emergency and essential services, banks, fruits, vegetable and milk vendors are exempted from the curfew.

    Similarly, polling and election-related activities in Sahara (Bhilwara), Sujangarh (Churu) and Rajsamand (Rajsamand) assembly constituencies will be conducted as scheduled. Bypolls to these assembly seats will be held on Saturday.