High Court, Amit Shah firefight to get Goa's Covid-19 efforts back on track

Goa witnessed two separate rounds of firefighting, one judicial and the other political, to put the state's Covid-19 management apparatus, especially the shortage of oxygen, back on track.

The first round of firefighting was directed by the Bombay High Court, which urged the Central government to ensure Goa got its allotted quota of oxygen and also directed the state government to ensure that no lives are lost due to oxygen shortage in the state's apex hospital, the Goa Medical College, henceforth.

Nearly 50 Covid-19 patients died over the past three days at the medical college, due to lack of oxygen.

In its order, the High Court, which is hearing a string of public interest litigations seeking to streamline Covid-19 management efforts in the state, said "state administration (should) find out ways and means to overcome these logistical issues, so that, precious life is not lost on account of any deficiencies in the matter of supply of oxygen to the patients".

"We also direct the Central government to ensure that the allotted quota is made available to the state at the earliest," the court also said.

The High Court also directed the state health secretary to file a status report by Friday evening.

The other effort at firefighting the crisis was one with political overtones. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has had to intervene and resolve the ongoing stand-off between Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, whose public squabbles, according to the Opposition, are hampering Goa's fight against the pandemic and leading to a high mortality rate.

State BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade while confirming that Shah spoke to both Rane and Sawant in his presence, added that there were no overt differences between the two top politicians.

"There was no intervention from me. I was sitting with them unofficially as a party president. It was just a misunderstanding. It was an internal issue. We got a phone (with Shah) at the time, who had called for some other reason," Tanavade said.

Party sources said Shah told both Sawant and Rane to bury the hatchet and direct their energies towards combating Covid-19.

Sawant and Rane have been at loggerheads for the past several months over a larger share of control of the government's Covid management mechanism. The tussle between the two peaked after 26 patients died due to oxygen shortage in the state's top hospital.

While Sawant, who recently took control of matters related to oxygen management in the state, claimed that poor management of available oxygen led to the tragedy at the medical college, Rane insisted that the deaths occurred due to oxygen shortage.

BJP legislators have also demanded the resignation of Rane over mismanagement. But Tanavade has ruled out any reallocation of portfolios for now, despite demands made by BJP MLAs like Atanasio Monserrate and Antonio Fernandes. "There is no question of any cabinet reshuffle at this stage," Tanavade said.