Gehlot indulging politics on ventilators: BJP

Jaipur BJP National General Secretary and in-charge of Rajasthan Arun Singh on Sunday accused Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of having mala fide intentions 'due to which he intentionally did not use the ventilators allotted under the PM Care for Rajasthan'. Addressing a virtual media conference, Singh said, "The ventilators which were termed as faulty could have been made operational by spending a mere amount of Rs 300. In Bikaner, 20 ventilators were made operational by our workers. Why other ventilators were not made functional a year back by the Congress government?"

People would not have died if the ventilators had been made functional. The Gehlot government should be held accountable for this, he added.

If the Central government can provide a ventilator worth Rs 4 lakh, why could not the Gehlot government spend Rs 300 to improve any of its parts. Operating and maintaining ventilators was a part of State government and Gehlot government's loopholes are now out in the public, he further said.

Singh alleged that the Central government allotted 453 MT oxygen, but the State government could not reap the benefits as it did not arrange for tankers. Health sector comes under the State government but it did not do anything and kept sleeping with no work done on ground for installing oxygen plant, he said. "Due to their male fide intentions, neither the ventilators provided under PM care were used nor the Rs 201 crore funds sanctioned for installing oxygen plants were used. This would have popularised PM Modi's image and hence public lives were compromised upon," he said.