High drama unfolded at the State BJP headquarters on Saturday as a transporter from Haldwani identified as Prakash Pandey reached the Janata Darbar of the State Agriculture Minister Subodh Uniyal after taking poisonous substances. He told the stupefied Minister and others present there that the demonetisation, GST and the Government- enforced ban on mining have goaded him to take the extreme step.
He further said that neither the Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor the chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has cared to reply to his letter, asking for some relief from the compulsion of repaying his loans. He was admitted at the ICU of Doon Hospital and later referred to a Dehradun- based private hospital as he was finding difficult to breathe, said a doctor of the Doon Hospital. The leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Indira Hridayesh tore into the ‘double engine’ BJP government at Centre and in the state, saying that their anti-people policies are driving the poor into desperation. She cited several deaths of farmers in the state since the BJP Government assumed charge because of their financial distress.
Pandey was heard saying that his spell of misfortune started after the State Government banned mining in August 2016. Things turned worse following demonetisation and enforcement of GST, he said, adding that his truck taken on loan from some financers remained idle since August 2016. He said that unable to pay back the loan amount, he had shot off letters both to the PM and the CM, praying for some relief on the payment of the interests on the loan, but to no avail.
The minister Uniyal and the BJP activists soon got their act together and rushed the transporter to Doon Hospital in the car of the minister.
When queried on the condition of the patient, the medical superintendent (MS) of the associated hospital of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC), Dr KK Tamta said that poisonous substances have been pumped out of his stomach and sent to police for forensic lab test. His blood pressure was low and he was having acute breathing problem, things which prodded them to refer to another hospital, he added.
Minister Uniyal expressed his shock over the incident and prayed for his speedy recovery while the veteran Congress leader Indira Hridayesh said that the incident has brought into light the plight of the common men. “The demonetisation and GST have together crippled economy. The State along with the country is suffering. Previously some farmers died tragic deaths, unable to withstand the loan recovery pressure. This is the latest instance of the common people suffering the consequences of the double- engine government’s anti-people policies,” she added.