The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, Pritam Singh has accused the State Government of issuing contradictory statements on bringing the stranded Uttarakhandis’ in different parts of country by railways.
Addressing media persons at the State headquarters of the Uttarakhand Congress, the PCC president said that three different statements in last three days from those within the government have created confusion and could create chaos.
“The Government spokesperson Madan Kaushik had said that the trains would resume from May 10 while the nodal officer Shailesh Bagoli had denied about any such plan. Later the CM had talked about trains on May 12 and 13,’’ he said. Questioning the decision of the state government to hand over all responsibilities of returning migrants to the village Pradhans, PCC President said arranging for quarantine facility, regular care and food for the migrants is too much a task for the Pradhans. He said that the state government should have made arrangements for health check up and quarantine at base camps.
The PCC president demanded that the state government should inform about the blue print for employment generation programmes for the returning migrants. He said that the farmers of the state have been hit hard by recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms. He said that the state government should provide adequate compensation for such farmers without delay. Singh asked the state government to make necessary changes in the disaster management act to provide relief to the farmers affected by hail stones and un-seasonal rains. He also reminded the state government of the promise of agricultural loan waiver made by it during the run up for the assembly elections of 2017. Singh also questioned the silence of state government on the issue of pass to the Uttar Pradesh (UP) MLA during lockdown. He said that the state government should take lesson from the action taken by the Maharashtra government in this regard. Reacting to the recent statement of Member of Parliament (MP), Lok Sabha from Garhwal, Teerath Singh Rawat about non fulfilment of social distancing norms at liquor shops, Pritam Singh said that many BJP leaders are not happy with the state government but they are openly coming out due to the fear of attracting wrath of party high command.