The seven-floor Kumara Krupa Guest House was recently renovated.
At a time when citizens are having a difficult time finding a hospital bed for coronavirus treatment, a new order in Karnataka has become controversial. 100 rooms at a deluxe government guest house in Bengaluru, Kumara Krupa, have been set aside as a Covid Care centre for ministers, MLAs, MPs and top government officials.
Rooms have been set aside in one wing of the Kumara Krupa Guesthouse for the "management" of ministers, Members of Parliament, Legislative Assembly and Council and senior officers above secretary rank, according to the state government order that has raised questions about preferential treatment for "VIPs".
The order said elected representatives and ministers, who held constitutional positions, and senior officers, were "getting infected during the course of discharge of their duties", therefore a dedicated Covid Care Centre was needed for them.
The VVIP guest house has been asked to limit the number of bookings in the rest of the building to a maximum of 33 per cent capacity to ensure availability and less crowding. The management has also been asked to avoid all unnecessary visitors.
A floor at Sri Sri Ravishankar's ashram in the city has also been reserved for policemen who test positive for COVID-19 but have a milder infection, the Karnataka government said on Wednesday.
Congress leader Rizwan Arshad blamed the government for what he called a mess. "The state government has messed up everything. We have reached the state where a part of the Guest House is being converted into a COVID19 treatment facility for VIPs. There is no room or bed available in government hospitals...We are even running short of ventilators and ICUs," the Congress MLA said.
Umesh Jadhav, a member of the ruling BJP, defended the decision, saying: "Quarantine is essential now. Whatever is available, the government is trying to make use of it and everyone should cooperate."
The seven-floor Kumara Krupa Guest House was recently renovated.
It has three floors reserved exclusively for "VIP guests" like Supreme Court judges and ministers.
Karnataka has over 10,000 coronavirus cases, including 164 deaths. Bengaluru has seen a spike in cases and two markets in the heart of the city have been sealed. To tackle the rising demand, the government ordered 50 per cent rooms in private hospitals for COVID-19 patients and capped charges.
Former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, in a series of tweets on Wednesday, claimed an acute shortage of beds and ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients in the state. "The state government has failed to provide adequate treatment to those infected with corona. There are no beds and no ventilators to treat more than four thousand patients. Self-induced lockdown is the only solution," he tweeted.