PANAJI
Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday lamented that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's much-touted announcement of wage hike and insurance to Covid healthcare workers has not fructified even after a year.
AAP Goa Convener Rahul Mhambre pointed out that exactly a year ago the CM had announced a Rs 50 lakh insurance cover and a 20 per cent hike in their wages.
"However, to date, though a year has passed neither of the two have been fulfilled," said Mhambre while pointing out that they are paid the old wages and nobody has been given insurance cover.
AAP government in Delhi came out with a good model to deal with Covid which has been hailed and adopted by some other states.
"However, it is unfortunate that Goa did not take a leaf from Delhi even though a painstakingly prepared white paper was presented to it," said Mhambre.
He said that Goa is now facing the second wave and the government is ill-equipped to deal with it as it is following the same procedures it undertook earlier without realising that the second wave needs to be dealt with differently.
He said the Goa government would do well to implement the recommendations in the white paper and at least adopt the five-point strategy.
These include home isolation, reducing death count, ambulance management and involving all stakeholders.
"It is time for Sawant to take the second wave seriously and ensure the safety of Goans," said Mhambre.
The 5T formula includes Testing, Tracing, Treatment, Tracking and Teamwork that gave excellent results in Delhi need to be adopted in Goa, he said.
Mhambre called for increasing the testing facilities in Goa particularly as the cases are increasing.
He also called for proper guidelines for home quarantine and asked for more facilities for isolation as Goa has the highest rate of Covid cases.
"Goa's 20 per cent Covid positive rate is highest in the country and Margao and Calangute are emerging as the new hotspots," said Mhambre.
