Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, filed a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against Delhi Deputy CM and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia on Tuesday over the PPE kit issue. According to the reports, the case is listed at the Civil Judge Court, Kamrup (Metro), Guwahati on June 22.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia had earlier on June 4 alleged that the Assam government had awarded contracts to the chief minister’s wife’s business and his son’s business partner. He claimed that when the Covid-19 outbreak hit the nation in 2020, they were provided to supply PPE kits over market costs.

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Riniki Bhuyan’s advocate P Nayak stated that Manish Sisodia gave a political statement and dragged his client, forcing her to file an FIR against Delhi’s Deputy CM. He further stated that Riniki Bhuyan has not filed any tender for the process and she submitted the PPE kit as a donation under CSR activities.

Earlier this month, Sisodia claimed in a press conference that while the Assam government purchased personal protective equipment (PPE) kits from other businesses for Rs 600 per piece, Sarma gave contracts for the same to the businesses of his wife’s and son’s business partners for Rs 990 per piece taking advantage of the emergency situation.

Sisodia further disclosed that the Assam chief minister’s wife’s business does not even deal in medical supplies. The AAP leader continued that while the contract given to the firm of Sarma’s wife was cancelled as the company could not supply PPE kits, another supply order was given to the firm belonging to the business partners of his son at a rate of Rs 1,680 per kit.

In response to Manish Sisodia’s accusations, Himanta Biswa Sarma said his wife gave PPE kits to the government for free. When the entire nation was dealing with the deadliest pandemic in more than a century, Assam hardly had any PPE Kits available, said Himanta Biswa Sarma. He further stated that his wife took the courage of coming forward and donating around 1500 free of cost to the government to save lives. She didn’t take a single penny, Sarma wrote on Twitter.

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The post Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife files Rs 100 crore defamation suit against Manish Sisodia over PPE kits issue appeared first on APN News.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said citizens of India will get a ready to use Covid-19 vaccine by early next year. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, the health minister’s statement comes at the time when India has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world and has more than 50 lakh cases with the new cases detected almost 1 lakh per day.

He said a group of experts have been working on the vaccine for quite some time and three of the vaccines have cleared the first and second trials and were being prepared for stage 3 trials. After getting clearance from the Drug Controller General of India, two indigenous vaccines from Zydus Cadila and Bharat Biotech are due to start the Stage 3 trials soon, Vardhan said.

Vardhan said the country had come a long way from earlier this year when TV channels reported that there was a shortage of PPE kits, testing kits, and masks; there were hundreds of labs across the country now, and no state was being discriminated against. He added that when the pandemic broke out, even advanced countries like the US were trying to learn about it.

The minister said migrant workers faced difficulties, but the government tried to provide them all facilities and said 64 lakh were provided train and buses.

Meanwhile, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited, a global pharmaceutical company from India, have agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V vaccine in India. Sputnik V was developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, along with the RDIF and registered on August 11.

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On Thursday, the total coronavirus cases in the country went up to 51,18,254 including 10,09,976 active cases, 40,25,080 cured/discharged/migrated and 83,198 deaths, according to Union Health Ministry data.

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