Twelve opposition leaders including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray together have composed a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking free vaccination across the country.
Besides this the leaders also asked the central government to provide free ration for those who are in need and Rs 6,000 on monthly basis in the accounts of those who are unemployed.
In their letter the leaders also stated their view of suspending the multi-crore Central Vista redevelopment project and use that money to fight the pandemic. They even mentioned their demand for scrapping off the three contentious Central farm laws to safeguard the farmers from being afftected by the impacts of Covid-19.
Here are some of the highlights that were mentioned in the letter:
- Free distributions of the foodgrains to the needy.
- Release all money held in the unaccounted private trust fund, PMCares to buy more vaccines, oxygen and medical equipment required.
- Give all jobless at least Rs 6,000 per month.
- Invoke compulsory licensing to expand domestic vaccine production.
- Procure vaccines centrally from all available sources – global and domestic.
The opposition leaders also alleged then Central government of not listening to any suggestions from the opposition and that is the reason behind country’s worst failure in controlling the pandemic.
The other leaders who also signed the letter included Congress president Sonia Gandhi, RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav, JMM’s Hemant Soren, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury and many others.
