The Pradesh Congress Committee has written to the Hans Foundation clarifying the comments made by PCC chief Kishore Upadhyay about the announcements regarding financial aid and assistance in disaster affected areas made by various NGOs especially the Hans Foundation after the June 2013 disaster. The letter has been written on behalf of Upadhyay by the PCC chief spokesman Mathuradatt Joshi to Hans Foundation in response to the statement of the Foundation’s State in-charge PS Bisht.
The letter Stated, “During the Kedarnath disaster, various social organisations, industrial houses and people were reported in the media to have announced various measures to provide relief to the disaster victims. As far as your mentioning the PCC chief’s letter to the Chief Minister and stating that your organisation’s name has been especially named in the letter, as far as I know, of all the announcements made for disaster relief the maximum relief amount had been announced by Hans Foundation.”
Stating that Hans Maharaj and Rajeshwar Devi are respected personalities, Joshi said that Upadhyay did not intend to disrespect the foundation. “We respect all those who came forward to help the disaster victims but we also consider it our moral responsibility to expose before the public, all those who in their enthusiasm or to gain immediate fame made announcements which were not acted upon. In order to remind those who had made such hollow announcements, the PCC chief in his letter to the CM had requested that the Government should work in the interests of the State and remind those who had made announcements which were not acted upon. It is also important to ascertain how much the Uttarakhand Government received by the Prime Minister’s and Chief Minister’s relief funds from various sources for the victims of the 2013 disaster. Many people announcd their intention to provide relief, various media houses also collect relief amount and various social organisations also collected donations from the public. It needs to be ascertained and revealed as to how much of the amount collected in the PM and CM relief funds is actually used for the disaster victims as intended. When the PCC chief personally telephoned you to enquire about the Rs 100 crore relief announced by the Foundation but was not provided the information for a week, he sought information from the CM not only about your organisation but about all the announcements made regarding relief.”