Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly and a senior Congress leader Indira Hridayesh said on Saturday that the State Government should act on the commitment made by the district magistrate Nainital and release `10 lakh by way assistance to the bereaved family of the transporter Prakash Pandey who consumed poison at the state BJP headquarters on January 6 and died on January 9, alleging business loss, post demonetisation and GST. She said that demonetisation and GST have together wreaked havoc on the life of the common people, particularly the small and medium scale traders. “The DM being the administrative head of the district, there is no way the state government can back out of the commitment made to the bereaved family by the DM,” she said, adding that she had earlier met the Chief Minister on the issue and demanded the same. She further said that the widow of the deceased should be provided with a government job to help the family tide over the grim crisis they are now facing. Notably, CM Rawat had recently said that they have not announced giving money or government job to the widow, something that created confusion in view of the DM having purportedly made such announcements before the cremation of the deceased transporter. He had further said that the district magistrate, Nainital had given `two lakh to the bereaved family.
The veteran Congress leader said that the widow has been admitted at a hospital after her condition kept deteriorating. “It is a matter of the State Government’s credibility as DM is the representative of the State Government running the administration in the district,” she said.
One of the senior BJP leaders has also claimed having written to the chief minister, asking him to release Rs 10 lakh more to the family of late Pandey. While talking to The Pioneer, Kaladhungi MLA Banshidhar Bhagat said that he had written a letter to the CM, requesting him to release the sum. “I would meet him soon with the same appeal,” he added.
Notably, Prakash Pandey, the transporter who had consumed pesticide before attending a Janata Darbar chaired by a Cabinet Minister Subodh Uniyal at the BJP’S state headquarters on January 6, blaming demonetisation and GST for his financial woes, had died at a private hospital on January 9, sending shock waves among the people of the state and making the State Government face flak over its alleged apathy in providing relief to the transporter despite his having written to the PMO and CMO. Latching on to the unfortunate death, the Congress leaders had torn into the ‘double engine’ BJP Government at Centre and in the state, saying that their anti-people policies are driving the poor into desperation. They had also cited several deaths of farmers in the state since the BJP Government assumed charge because of their financial distress. The beleaguered State Government had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the death in the aftermath of several traders and others having threatened the same in case the state government failed to step in with some relief measures.