Coronavirus outbreak: Disclose price of rapid test kits, DMK urges TN govt

Chennai, Apr 18: DMK president M K Stalin on Saturday demanded that the party would disclose the pricing of kits purchased from China. Stalin, the leader of opposition in the Assembly cited Chattisgarh Minister T S Singh Deo's twitter post on the price of kits his State has bought and sought a similar disclosure from the AIADMK-led government.

The Chattisgarh Minister has transparently announced the number of kits purchased, and its low price, the DMK chief said in a Facebook post.

"Similarly, the Tamil Nadu government should transparently announce the number of kits bought and its price. I am urging disclosure as there should be transparency in government administration," he said.

The Dravidian party leader also tagged Deo's post which said, "We are procuring 75,000 high quality rapid testing kits at a benchmark price of Rs 337 + GST from a South Korean company based in India, which has proven to be the lowest bidder. The rate we have been able to close at is the lowest in India."

On April 17, Stalin had hit out at Chief Minister K Palaniswami for his expectation that the number of fresh coronavirus cases will slide to zero and demanded expeditious steps to procure equipment, carry out rapid testing besides measures for treatment, relief and rehabilitation. Palaniswami had said Tamil Nadu has received 24,000 rapid test kits from China.

As a precautionary step, the government had already placed orders for 1.25 lakh kits from China and remitted payment for it also, the CM had said adding the 24,000 kits were part of this. Noting that there was some delay in getting the consignment from China, he assured all measures to quicken the rest of the shipment from the dragon nation.