The Telangana High Court (HC) has given a stern warning to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government and asked if it wants this court to get tougher.
The Telangana government announced on Sunday that it would conduct 50,000 tests at 30 Assembly constituencies in Ranga Reddy, Vikarabad, Medchal, and Sangareddy districts in the next 10 days. An average of 5,000 tests were to be conducted per day to meet the target. But the government tested only 1,251 and 1,096 samples on June 16 and 17, respectively.
A person named Varun Sankineni filed a petition, questioning these poor testing figures and sought that a court-appointed committee look into Telangana government's claims. A bench comprising Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Vijaysen Reddy took this petition for hearing on Thursday. The bench not only expressed its displeasure, but also asked a series of questions to the TRS-led government.
The Telangana HC fumed against the state government, saying that it has lost interest in fighting COVID-19. The division bench questioned on why it was testing less for COVID-19 despite the court's orders. "Why is the State government not sending its medical staff to test people door-to-door," the New Indian Express quoted as the HC bench asking.
The division bench added, "Now the entire 33 districts, including Nalgonda and Suryapet where there were no cases earlier, are no longer Corona-free. We are sorry to say that the Telangana government has lost interest and zeal in containing COVID-19 and it is ready to throw in the towel with a message that everyone should fend for themselves."
The HC expressed its unhappiness with the government's response and gave a strong warning to it. "This is a strange attitude of the government. It continues to ignore our orders. If the government wants this court to get tougher, we will get tough when our orders are ignored," the bench stated.
