Saturday, 21 January 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Uttarakhand Congress has alleged discrimination in distribution of relief in the disaster affected Joshimath city. The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara said that the discrimination is being done on party lines and without naming the ruling BJP, he claimed that the workers of a particular party are accompanying the people engaged in distributing relief material. After returning from Joshimath, Mahara interacted with the media persons at the State headquarters of Congress party on Friday. He said that he had visited Joshimath nine days ago and again went there with the delegation of senior leaders which included the in-charge of party Devendra Yadav, leader of opposition (LoP) in assembly Yashpal Arya and former PCC president Ganesh Godiyal on Thursday and found that things have become worse from bad. He said posters of ‘NTPC go back’ are pasted on every house and shop in Joshimath but the State government is protecting the company. Mahara said that it is surprising that on one hand the minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt gave a statement that the decision whether the Joshimath crisis is manmade or natural would be made after the report of specialists, the chief minister gave a clean chit to NTPC by stating that it is not responsible for the disaster. He said that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had issued a warning about Joshimath but it was later removed from its website. Taking strong exception to the statement of Minister Dhan Singh Rawat that he talked with ISRO to remove the content, Mahara said that it shows how the government is functioning. The PCC president said that the Congress leaders also visited Karnprayag and Gopeshwar and met the affected families there. He said that 38 families have been displaced in Karnprayag but they have not received a single penny as relief. The PCC president said the landslide has affected an entire locality in Gopeshwar and people there blame the tunnels dug for the railways for their misery. He said that residents of Uttarkashi, Dharchula, Mussoorie and Nainital are also facing similar situations. He added that people of Joshimath want that instead of their rehabilitation in Pipalkoti they should be settled in plain areas such as Dehradun, Haridwar or Rishikesh. The Vice president of Uttarakhand Congress Mathura Dutt Joshi, Garima Dasauni and others were present on the occasion.
