Hyderabad: In the middle of a pandemic, lawmakers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh don’t seem to be setting the best examples for public behaviour even though the Covid-19 caseload remains high in these states.
In Telangana, the government inaugurated Hyderabad’s latest tourist attraction, a massive cable-stayed bridge, with much pomp and show last month. Later, ruling Telangana Rasthra Samithi leaders attended a resident body gathering in the city. Another inauguration event in Ranga Reddy district also drew crowds.
In Andhra, a ruling YSR Congress leader went so far as to celebrate his birthday with hundreds of his supporters in Vijayawada last week.
These events, where leaders and administration could be seen openly flouting public norms amid a pandemic, have drawn criticism — even from a state official in the case of the bridge launch.
The Covid caseload in both states remains significant.
As of Monday, Telangana reported a total of 2,02,594 cases, with 1,181 deaths — a fatality rate of about 0.58 per cent compared to the national average of 1.6 per cent. Andhra Pradesh, one of the five worst affected states in the country, has seen a total of 7,23,512 cases and 6,019 deaths.
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The Telangana situation
On 25 September, Telangana’s IT, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao inaugurated the Rs 184-crore project, touted as ‘World’s Longest Span Concrete Deck Extradosed Cable Stayed Bridge’, in the IT corridor of the city. He called it “another jewel to the city of pearls”. Union Home Minister Kishan Reddy was also present.
Later, the state’s Urban Development Secretary Arvind Kumar even have an open invitation to the people of the city to come and witness “live music performances” at the bridge on 27 September, a Sunday.
As a result, hundreds of residents thronged the bridge to look at the grandeur of lighting and fireworks, maintaining no physical distancing. A significant number of them were present even without masks.
In a presentation after these events, Telangana’s Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao pointed out how this was a gross violation of the Covid precautionary guidelines as he urged people to stay indoors, saying such negligence could lead to an outbreak of Covid cases.
“It is not wrong to be excited to visit such a place. But if we do not take any precautions, it will lead to another cluster or outbreak of cases. It is highly advisable for the public to avoid such mass gatherings at this time. Cable Bridge will not disappear in a month or two, it is going to be there and one can visit when the situation improves,” Rao said on 30 September.
This bridge is the one of the big infrastructure projects by the state government in the city, and it has come up ahead of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections (local body polls) likely to be held this year.
“The ruling party will obviously show off this project on a grand scale so people register such stuff ahead of the polls,” a source close to the party told ThePrint.
On 27 September, TRS legislator Gopinath Maganti, along with Hyderabad’s Deputy Mayor Baba Fasiuddin, attended a gathering organised by a local resident association in Hyderabad’s NRR Puram.
Hundreds were present at the event, in narrow lanes, where posters of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his son K.T. Rama Rao were seen.
At this event, nearly half the people didn’t wear masks and physical distancing wasn’t followed either.
“We told them many times not to hold such large gatherings. How many times can we tell them? If we insist more, they get offended… Once I reached the spot, it’s not like I could ask people on the road to go away. And in that area, it is hard to practise physical distancing also because it is too narrow,” Deputy Mayor Fasiuddin, who still participated in the event, told ThePrint.
In the Ranga Reddy district, a newly built water body (Shabad Pailwan Cheruvu) was inaugurated Monday by ruling party’s Member of Parliament Ranjith Reddy. At least 250 people were present at the event, with a majority of them being party supporters.
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What happened in Andhra
In the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, ruling YSRCP leader and Krishna District Cooperative Central Bank Chairman Y. Venkata Rao celebrated his birthday in Vijayawada among hundreds of his supporters on 3 September.
A crane was brought in to put a huge garland on Rao, who was standing at a height on a podium-like structure, while his supporters stood crowding. No physical distancing was ensured and most people didn’t wear masks, including Rao.
The crowd could not be controlled by a few policemen present at the location.
Number of such events
There have been many such incidents in these states where lawmakers and politicians were found to be flouting Covid rules and participating in gatherings.
Often the excuse remained that the gathering was arranged by supporters and the leaders already insisted on fewer people.
In July, Telangana Minister K.T. Rama Rao was criticised for participating in the foundation laying ceremony for the state’s first government-owned toddy stall, which saw a gathering of around 150 people.
Earlier in April, during the lockdown, YSRCP legislator Kiliveti Sanjeevaiah violated Covid norms and organised a massive tractor rally to distribute groceries in the Nellore district. It was the second such violation by a party MLA that month.
In May, when former CM N. Chandrababu Naidu went to Andhra Pradesh, almost after a gap of two months, he was welcomed by a large gathering of his supporters. This incident attracted criticism from the ruling party, who said Naidu and his team violated lockdown rules.
Apart from all these, political meetings/events, protests by opposition parties and smaller inaugurations have all been going on in full swing in both states.
“One of the politicians who tested positive asked me from where he could have gotten the virus, despite taking precautions. I pointed out to him how he had recently met a group of people and had tea with them,” Andhra Pradesh Covid Coordinator Dr K. Rambabu told ThePrint.
“People should get it into their minds that they need to ‘suspect everybody and suspect everything’. The caseload is still very much there and so the mortality rate is high,” said Rambabu.
“Unlock is not a bad thing but there needs to be a balance. It is still very important to follow the rules of distancing, mask etc. We have to learn from other countries how their cases spiked after people came out in huge numbers,” said Dr Sanjeev Singh Yadav, Indian Medical Association Secretary (Telangana).
“The governments are busy in their own events, but people have to be really careful, especially this viral season.”
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