'Even as CM Rupani promotes Rajkot-based private company’s ‘breathing apparatus’, Gujarat’s largest Covid-19 hospital urgently seeks full-fledged ventilators from Centre. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has not left his citadel in Gandhinagar and visited Ahmedabad, the worst-hit corona-affected city in the State. But Rupani did so on April 4 when he inaugurated Gujarat-made ventilators at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
'The Narendra Modi government is procuring 5,000 ventilators from a Rajkot-based firm which has already been accused of supplying breathing machines to Ahmedabad’s largest COVID-19 hospital that doctors there say are not up to the mark. The firm’s current and former promoters have had close associations with top BJP leaders – with at least one business family, The Wire has established, linked to the controversial gift of an expensive suit to Prime Minister Modi. This procurement is being done through state-run HLL Lifecare, according to Gujarat’s principal health secretary Jayanti Ravi.
'Gujarat governor Acharya Devvrat has approved an Ordinance exempting new businesses being set up in the state from almost all the labour laws for a period of over three years. A top state government official said that the Governor’s nod to the draft Ordinance came earlier this week and it has now been sent for President Ram Nath Kovind’s assent on Wednesday...'
'“It was around 7 PM in the evening on 8 May. I was in my house, cutting fruits for iftar. My husband was sitting on the bed at the other corner of the room, playing with my one-year-old daughter when some policemen barged into the house, dragged him outside and thrashed him mercilessly.”... Rehana* said she pleaded with the police to let her husband at least break his Ramzaan fast with a drop of water. “But they did not relent,” she said, breaking down beside the plate of chopped fruits...'
'Stopped for violating lockdown orders, a BJP worker allegedly tried to crush a police inspector under SUV in Halvad town of Morbi district on Tuesday night...'
'A rapid survey done by four independent organisations on the condition of migrant workers in Gujarat and Maharashtra has suggested several measures that could be taken to ease the situation. The rapid survey, done by theCentre for Labour Research (CLRA), Habitat Forum (Inhaf), Mashal and sociology department of Savitribai Phule University, Pune was done between April 23 and May 1,on issues related to stranded labours, migrants and workers in the unorganised sector... Employment and wages were uncertain in both states.
'The editor of a Gujarati news portal was charged with sedition and questioned by the police after he published a report that suggested the chief minister could be changed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party due to rising number of coronavirus cases in the state...'
'Mohammad Ayub (name changed), a 46-year-old resident of Raopura in Vadodara, Gujarat, has been undergoing dialysis three times a week for the past two years. Once a mechanic, he used to earn his living by repairing air conditioners and refrigerators. Ayub has now been confined to his home after kidney failure close to two years ago. A month ago, Tricolour Hospital, where Ayub had been undergoing treatment for the past two years, refused to treat him further. “The hospital authorities told me that I should get tested (for COVID-19) as the area I reside in was declared a red zone.
'A CCTV footage showing a Muslim man in a petrol pump reaching for his pocket to make a payment and dropping something on the ground is massively viral on social media. Certain users have speculated that the man intentionally dropped currency notes to spread coronavirus infection. ABP News anchor Vikas Bhadauria tweeted the video saying, “Did he purposely drop the note or it fell by mistake? What could be his intentions?” As of this writing, his tweet drew close to 2.5 lakh views and 6,000 retweets...
'On April 22, K. Raju, a 22-year-old migrant fish worker from Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh, reportedly died of panic attack on-board one of the fishing boats in Veraval, Gujarat. According to reports, after hearing of a COVID-19 case near the Veraval seaport, Raju became anxious and died of cardiac arrest around 2 a.m. The deceased worker had been eagerly waiting to return to D Matsalesam village in Srikakulam to see his newborn daughter for the first time but couldn’t because of the lockdown.
