Surya’s allegations come at a time when Bengaluru reported 20,870 new Covid cases and 132 deaths on Tuesday. There were 44,631 new cases and 292 deaths in the state on the day.
Indicting his own party, BJP MP from Bangalore South Tejasvi Surya made allegations of widespread corruption in the allocation of beds in Bangalore. This comes at a time when Karnataka’s capital city is reporting a massive shortage of beds for critical COVID-19 patients
Addressing a press conference accompanied by Basavangudi MLA Ravi Subramanya, Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy, and Chickpet MLA Uday Garudachar. Surya alleged that there’s a “bribe for bed” scam taking place in the city. Slamming BBMP officials and its portal which always shows beds as full, he said “Getting a bed for a COVID-19 patient is a nightmare. The bed booking software (portal) always shows that the beds are occupied.”
IMPORTANT Addressing issues of irregularities and anomalies in BBMP bed booking for covid patients in Bengaluru along with Bommanahalli MLA Shri. Satish Reddy, Basavanagudi MLA Shri. Ravi Subramanya and Chickpet MLA Shri. Uday Garudachar. https://t.co/mzjjiQq7AP
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) May 4, 2021
The MP also said “Bribes are being taken to allocate Covid beds. An unholy nexus of BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) officers, Arogya Mitras, and certain private agents is behind this scam,”
Elucidating on the scam further, Surya said that beds were booked in the name of asymptomatic patients in home isolation. “After the bed is booked, if the patient doesn’t get admitted in 12 hours, it is automatically unblocked for other patients. In this 12-hour window, agents contact patients looking for admission and divert the beds to them. We contacted multiple people in whose names beds were blocked and found that they had recovered long back they were not aware that beds were booked in their name,” he said.
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He also said that his office tipped the police about one such instance. “My office has tipped off the police in an instance after which an accused was arrested,” Tejasvi Surya said to reporters.
Surya’s allegations come at a time when Bengaluru reported 20,870 new Covid cases and 132 deaths on Tuesday. There were 44,631 new cases and 292 deaths in the state on the day.
These allegations come as a major embarrassment for the ruling BJP, BS Yediyurappa-led state government in Karnataka. According to TOI, BBMP chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta said a team of officials was looking into the matter and would submit a report on Wednesday. “I have directed them to fix issues parallelly. Any glitches that are misused will be fixed. Action will be taken against anyone who indulged in fraudulent activities,” he added.
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