Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday termed as a “big relief” for Kerala people the visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kollam on April 10 after the gruesome fireworks tragedy at the Puttingal Devi temple in Paravur in which 114 people were killed even as complaints came up that many of those injured in the accident were yet to receive the urgent financial assistance the Government had announced.
“Several national leaders visited Kerala after the tragedy in Kollam. Apart from the Prime Minister, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechuri came. These visits were a big relief for the people of Kerala,” the Chief Minister told newsmen in Thrissur on Friday.
Chandy made the statement in response to the reports quoting State Director General of Police TP Senkumar that he had objected to the visits of the Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi to Kollam within hours of the tragedy because the police, whose energies were focused on rescue work at the temple had to be partially diverted to providing security to them.
Making it clear that the Prime Ministerial visit had in no way caused any problems to the rescue operations as a major part of it had been completed before dawn, Chandy said the focus during daytime that day was on providing treatment to those injured in the accident.
“The visits by the national leaders and their advices and suggestions had been valuable to Kerala,” Chandy said, adding that there was no need to distort the statement of the DGP. In his statement, Senkumar was referring to the security issues, he added.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who is already struggling to settle the disputes within his own department over fixing the responsibility for the Kollam tragedy, was cautious in his reaction to the controversy over the DGP’s statement. “You people (the media) are distorting his statement,” Chennithala said in Thrissur.
“It is good that the Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi, Yechuri and others visited Kerala at the moment of pain. There was nothing wrong in those visits. It is quite natural that security has to be provided during VVIP visits and the DGP was referring to that. There is no need to distort it,” the Minister added.
The State BJP termed the controversy over the Modi visit as unfortunate and sad. Stating that there was mystery behind the controversy over the Prime Ministerial visit, State BJP spokesman JR Padmakumar said that it was unfortunate that a controversy was being created out of a gesture of sincerity from the Prime Minister.
Modi, who landed in Kerala with a team of specialist doctors in the afternoon on April 10, had first visited the accident site at Paravur. He had then visited the injured at hospitals in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. He had come to Kerala reportedly after giving instructions on avoiding protocol-based procedures considering the gravity of the situation.
Meanwhile, complaints have come up that many of those injured in the fireworks accident were yet to receive the urgent financial assistance the Government had promised them immediately after the incident. Most of the people who were yet to receive the assistance were those who had returned home after receiving treatment at hospitals.
Amidst reports that the authorities had not even put in place a proper system for distributing the assistance, a protest sit-in was held in front of the Village Office in Paravur on Friday led by local legislator GS Jayalal of the CPI. “The Chief Minister should intervene immediately to ensure speedy distribution of the assistance,” said Jayalal.
“If at all there has been any delay it should be due to the problems in the procedures but money has already been released,” said Chief Minister Chandy. “Everybody knows that certain procedures are followed in this matter,” he said, adding that it was not proper to turn this into a controversy.