Shoaib Iqbal, a lawmaker from Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) urged the city's High Court to impose President's rule in the national capital amid the Covid surge. In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state.
Iqbal, the senior-most member of the legislative assembly (MLA) of Delhi, who is serving his sixth term representing the Matia Mahal constituency, said the situation in Delhi is extremely serious.
In a video, the lawmaker shared that "he feels restless seeing the situation of the city, with people not being able to get medicine or oxygen".
"Despite being one of the senior-most MLAs in Delhi, I'm nether able to arrange for a ventilator or medicine for my friend, and that friend may die anytime now, leaving behind a helpless family," he said.
Iqbal also added that the Delhi government and central government keep blaming each other and if there was President's rule in Delhi, the Lieutenant Governor would have all the power.
The central government "will directly be responsible for the situation in Delhi and if there is no communication channel to address issues like now, soon there will be dead bodies piled up on the roads", he said.
दिल्ली के हालातो को देखते हुये @AamAadmiParty विधायक शोएब इकबाल ने दिल्ली में राष्ट्रपति शासन लगाने की माँग की.
— Priyanka kandpal प्रियंका ਪ੍ਰਿਯੰਕਾ پرینکا (@pri_kandpal) April 30, 2021
शोएब ने कहा कि विधायक होते हुये भी उनकी कोई सुन नहीं रहा और ना ही कोई मदद मिल रही है.. मरीज़ों को ऑक्सीजन- दवाइयां और अस्पताल में बेड नही मिल रहे #DelhiCovid pic.twitter.com/mqWJjQTEfY
On Wednesday, in a letter to Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, the opposition Congress party had alleged that people were being left to die due to "inadequacies" in the hospitals and a dire shortage of medical oxygen over the past few days.
"The functioning of the state government in the management of this health disaster has been completely irresponsible and negligent," the letter read.
Over the past two weeks, there have been several incidents of ambulances queuing up outside hospitals, bodies piling up outside crematoriums and graveyards for hours. Horror stories of basic medical facilities seemingly crumbling in parts of the country due to a lack of hospital beds and ventilators are being reported on a daily basis.
The Delhi High Court has also criticised the city's ruling party AAP over its handling of the Covid situation in the city.
According to the federal Health and Family Welfare Ministry, India has witnessed a record daily rise in new Covid-19 cases of 386,452 while deaths from the disease jumped by 3,498 over the last 24 hours. The nation's capital recorded 395 deaths due to coronavirus on Thursday, a record high, as well as 24,235 new cases.
