No partiality against any district in fight against COVID: TN CM Stalin

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday said his government will not neglect any district including Coimbatore in the fight against Covid-19 and said the state has adequate availability of oxygen and bed facility.

Stalin was here to hold discussions with Collectors of five districts in the western belt about the steps taken and being taken to contain the spread of COVID-19.

He denied any partiality against Coimbatore district, with regard to treatment and facilities provided to combat coronavirus.

There have been allegations that the Coimbatore district was being ignored as the DMK had not fared well in last month's assembly elections.

"Some people had complained that Coimbatore district was neglected and I do not want to reply politically. Those who complained can see the infrastructure developed by the government and will not complain after that," Stalin told reporters.

"All districts are ours and there is no partiality," he added.

After Chennai, Coimbatore is the district where more people have been vaccinated, he said.

Stalin further said the main goal was to protect Tamil Nadu.

He was visiting Coimbatore and the other districts in the wake of the rising COVID-19 cases.

If necessary, the chief minister said he would visit the district again.

Stating that the number of positive cases in the state had come down after strict lockdown measures, he said the cases in Coimbatore district, which went past Chennai, have also come down in the last two days.

Covid war rooms and special monitoring committees were set up in all the districts, including in Coimbatore, both in urban and rural areas, he said.

There was also no scarcity of oxygen and beds in the entire state and three lakh people were being vaccinated daily and 1.07 lakh people were being tested using RT-PCR method, Stalin said.

To a question on the HLL factory in Chenglepet, he said he had sent a proposal to the Centre after visiting it to either allow the state to run it or the Central government could run it.

With regard to wearing PPE kit during his visit to the ESI hospital here, Stalin said wearing such kits was a very difficult task.

"Actually, I wanted to instill confidence and motivate doctors and nurses, whose services are laudable," he said.

Stalin had earlier flagged off 50 car ambulances for use in five zones of the city corporation for transporting Covid-19 patients to hospitals.