SHILLONG, Dec 19: The MDA government has decided against going overdrive on accelerating vaccination drive in the state rather choosing to rely on soft persuasion and good sense among the people. The stand is quite incongruous with the direction of the Meghalaya High Court recommending not to relent on the vaccination drive and even provide for disincentives upon their refusal.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma clarified here on Sunday that the State government has never done anything on the line prescribed by the court.
“No, the government has never done anything on that line all we are saying is that vaccination is important and it is the best way to keep the people safe and we still insist it is very important,” said the Chief Minister.
The direction came from the Division Bench consisting of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh while posting the matter for further hearing in February 2022 as it noted that the number of covid cases in the state has been on the decline.
Stating that the government still urges the people to get vaccinated, the chief minister said, “We have seen and it has been proven that it has helped and it has ensured that the number of lives that have been lost earlier has drastically reduced now.”
Pointing out that the new variant- Omicron is spreading in the rest of the World, he said, “We need to be extra careful about it and therefore I urge the people that they must get vaccinated and also be careful in all the kind of protocols that are being issued.”
On December 6, the Court had asked the state government, district councils, and other concerned authorities, including the Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority, to undertake a campaign to educate people and convince them to take the vaccination.
Observing that there are ‘reservations in certain quarters regarding vaccination’, the division bench of the High Court of Meghalaya had directed the authorities to undertake a campaign to educate people and convince them to take the vaccination.
Hearing a PIL pertaining to the action taken by the state to deal with the pandemic, the division bench explicitly said that the state should adopt an aggressive policy in undertaking awareness drives to convince people to take the vaccine, not only for their own benefit, but also for the protection of others.
It appears that the government is caught on a horn of dilemma whether to abide by court directive or go by the beaten track to avoid controversies ahead of state election in February 2023.
