Uttarakhand CM Rawat faces anger of deceased’s parents at Tehri Garhwal

The present political dispensation in Uttarakhand and it’s chief minister value the life of a school going child, who dies in an accident a meager 1 lakh rupee.

A government that earns annual revenue of 2300 crores through the massive sale of liquor acts stingily in financially compensating children after their fatal accidental deaths. A meager Rs. one lakh each not to mention about the meager compensation paid to the grievously injured children.

This is about the recent painful deaths of 10 school going children and injuries to several others when a Max driven by an untrained driver fell into a gorge on Pratap Nagar Madan Negi road. All the children were students of primary classes of a local private school St. Angels at Madan Negi in Tehri Garhwal. This accident occurred with about 10 death tolls and grievous injury to an equal number of children.

They were later airlifted to Rishikesh hospital for treatment.  The fatal accident occurred on the 6th of August. This matter has been immensely hyped in the media. According to sources, there has been an increasing outrage in the people of Tehri Garhwal and the entire state. There have been deplorable statements of the opposition leaders and social organizations regarding the handling of this matter. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had visited the village of the dead children in Madan Negi Tehri Garhwal to express his grief and condolence to the bereaved families.

He also handed them over a cheque of Rs. One lakh each to the bereaved families. The highly angered parents of the deceased children raised anti chief minister and anti-govt slogans and asked him to go back. They were furious over the delay of six days in responding to their call for help and that too giving them a meager amount of a Lakh each for the deceased children. The parents have decided to return the cheques and have asked for not less than Rs. ten lakh financial compensation each of the deceased child and Rs. 5 lakh for the grievously injured. The chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had to leave the village in a huff to meet the families of the victims of cloud bursts in Dhaarti village.

It may be recalled that about 10 school going children had died on 6th August when a Max carrying them fall in a gorge due to an untrained driver losing control of the vehicle. There were in all 22 children in a single max against the traffic rules. These fatal accidents are on the rise in Uttarakhand but the transport department still has no concrete plan of preventing these accidents. Suspensions of transport officials is not a concrete solution as they return to their duties after a few days when the hullaballoo around the tragedy subsides. Some credible policy on traffic rules in the mountainous region should be introduced with immediate effect to decrease the spate of fatal accidents which are on the rise.