Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's phone call to him on the COVID-19 situation in the country as the PM's 'Mann Ki Baat', instead of business. Soren's reaction came after Modi spoke to him and the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Telangana about the COVID-19 situation on Thursday.
"Today the respected Prime Minister called. He only spoke his 'Mann Ki Baat'. It would have been better if he would have talked business and heard the issues," the Jharkhand Chief Minister said in a tweet.
Official sources said Soren was unhappy as he was not allowed to present the issues concerning his state before Modi and instead, it was only the Prime Minister who talked about the COVID-19 situation.
आज आदरणीय प्रधानमंत्री जी ने फोन किया। उन्होंने सिर्फ अपने मन की बात की। बेहतर होता यदि वो काम की बात करते और काम की बात सुनते।
— Hemant Soren (@HemantSorenJMM) May 6, 2021
Jharkhand is among the 10 states and Union territories that are collectively accounting for over 75% of daily COVID-19 deaths in the country, according to latest data. The others are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
Jharkhand reported 133 COVID-19 fatalities on Thursday, taking the death toll due to the viral disease in the state to 3,479, while 6,974 cases pushed the state's infection tally to 2,70,089.
The mortality rate in the state remains higher at 1.28% against the national mortality rate of 1.10%. According to a bulletin issued by the state health department, the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients is 76.26% in Jharkhand as against the national average of 82%.
Soren digitally inaugurated a 528-bed makeshift COVID-19 hospital at Ranchi's Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) on Thursday. Of the 528 oxygenated beds, 327 were set up at the RIMS multi-storey parking lot, 73 at the oncology department and 128 at the old building of the institute.
Soren said 108 more beds will be set up with the help of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the country's largest energy conglomerate. On Wednesday, the Chief Minister had digitally inaugurated 250 beds at a dedicated COVID health centre at Koderma.