A massive gathering at the public adalat organised by the Kerala government, and attended by Health Minister KK Shailaja, has caused worrying levels of Covid violations. The event, organised at Thalliparamba in Kannur, has witnessed people of many ages rushing in, especially as the organisers failed to accommodate the numbers.
While the organisers claimed that the rush was because people from other locations had gathered, the complainants who attended the event alleged that there was rush from the beginning. The latter added that the organisers did not even have proper mechanism in place to handle such an expected crowd, despite the same having happened in Alappuzha and Kollam. There were not enough sanitisers, and the seats were not arranged to accommodate social distancing. Moreover, the organisers only started to try to maintain the crowds after the media entered the scene.
Apart from Shailaja, Industries Minister EP Jayarajan and others were also present at the event. However, despite the many violations of Covid protocols at the event, the Thalliparamba Inspector Sathyanath reportedly refused to comment on the issue, especially in the backdrop of how they have refused to take any action against the organisers.
Interestingly, this is the same location where police took a suo moto action against several UDF leaders for alleged Covid-19 allegations at the front’s Aishwarya Kerala Yatra. Police registered cases against 26 UDF leaders and over 400 members for violating Covid protocols. Moreover, police have also filed cases against protestors who had blocked Twenty20 chief coordinator Sabu M Jacob’s car while he was on his way to attend the planning committee meeting of the Mazhuvanoor grama panchayat. Over 400 people have been named in the chargesheet, for violating Covid norms.
At the Santhwana Sparsham 2021 in Kollam yesterday, Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma, Forest Minister K Raju, and Cooperation Minister Kadakampally Surendran addressed the needs of many who had gathered at the event, interacting with them. Keep in mind that many who had attended and interacted with the ministers were elderly people. Today morning, Kadakampally Surendran informed that he was Covid positive.
The situation went outside the control of the organisers in Alappuzha where thousands had gathered at the adalat where Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, PWD Minister G Sudhakaran, and Food and Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman had gathered. Despite “strict rules” and “Covid protocols” thousands thronged the location. However, on both occasions, there has been no action from the side of police or ministers. They are yet to address the rush or even establish better control mechanisms. The situation was repeated in three different locations over two days.
The central Covid management team will reach Ernakulam today, to address the health situation in the state as well help Kerala to control the rising number of cases. The team would later move to Kottayam and Kozhikode, where the team will interact with district leadership and management on ways to tackle the situation.
