Saturday, 22 JULY 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN

Responding to the allegations levelled by the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party has stated that sensitivity and dedication are important, not competitiveness, when providing relief to victims. The BJP State media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan termed statements of the Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahara laughable, stating that it is not a question of who reached the site of the incident first. What is important is what was done to provide immediate relief to the victims. “After the incident, it was vital to first save the lives of the injured and they were transported to the hospital while some were airlifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh while chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was also monitoring the situation. The allegations levelled by the Congress show that its leaders went there merely to fulfill the formality of making their presence felt so that it can be exploited politically,” said Chauhan.

He further said that the Congress is also making baseless statements about vehicular arrangements for sending the injured back from Rishikesh to Chamoli after treatment. Five of the injured were sent back with their family members in private vehicles by the BJP State president Mahendra Bhatt who bore the travel expenses but the Congress is seeking to exploit this too politically. The CM met the injured and their relatives on the evening of the incident and ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident. Two officers have been suspended so far and the relief amount has been announced but the Congress is still confused. Bhatt is in contact with the bereaved families and the injured while the CM too is consistently monitoring the situation. Chauhan further averred that relief works are being started immediately in disaster affected areas while the CM is checking the status at the control room even during the night. The BJP is also involved in the relief works with responsibilities being fixed for the MPs and MLAs also, he added.