'Govt ready to issue White Paper on Covid purchases'

The state government is prepared to bring out a White Paper on the purchase of equipment for Covid-19 treatment, Health Minister B Sriramulu has said.

Reacting to the allegations made by Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah about misuse of funds in the purchases, Sriramulu said that the government had maintained account for every purchase and the charges were baseless. "Siddaramaiah has served as chief minister and he has vast political experience. It is unbecoming of such a leader to level frivolous charges," Srira mulu said. He added that that government was prepared for a probe by any agency in this regard.

Sriramulu said that Congress workers had not involved themselves in any activity relating to Covid-19 containment and the party was making allegations for the sake of publicity.

Replying to a question, the minister said that there was no plan to enforce a statewide lockdown again. "Instead, we are thinking of lockdown in hot spots."