TEAM HERALD
CANACONA: Paying their respects to the 31 victims of the Ruby Residency tragedy, BJP on Sunday, on the occasion of the 1st anniversary of the Ruby Residency collapsed building, provided financial aid of Rs 1.25 lakh each to six Goan victims.
Goa Pradesh BJP President Vinay Tendulkar along with Canacona MLA and Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar walked down from the dais instead of calling the bereaved family members on the dais and handed over cheques (Rs 1.25 lakh each) to the family members seated amongst the gathering.
One of the victim’s wives was seen with tears in her eyes while accepting the cheque.
The family members who collected the cheques as financial assistance from BJP are Parvati Devu Gaonkar, Dipali Dilip Gaonkar, Sahili Krishna Velip, Ganesh Paik Velip, Milan Santosh Bhagat and Devu Paik Velip.
The six Goan workers who died in the Ruby Residency tragedy are Sudhakar Velip (Gaondongrim), Vikas Velip (Gaondongrim), Subhash Gaonkar (Gaondongrim), Santosh Bhagat (Khalwadem), Dilip Velip (Shristhal) and Krishna Velip (Barcem).
Earlier speaking on the occasion, Tendulkar said that BJP is sharing the grief and the party as well as the government will always stand with the family.
“However, some people tried to politicise the mishap of the Ruby Residency and even went on to blame the Canacona MLA for the tragedy. They did not stop there and tried to involve the then prime ministerial candidate and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s, saying that the BJP was holding a rally at Panjim when rescue and search operations were underway at Canacona,” said Tendulkar.
“Since the rally was planned earlier, we had advised our well wishers/people from Canacona not to attend the rally, but concentrate on the rescue operations. We had announced and made gate collections from Modi’s rally of around Rs 17.5 lakh at Rs 5 per participant.”
Tawadkar said, “I am in no way involved or related to the building collapse, while wild allegations have been made against me. I never tried to respond to these allegations as I my conscience is clear,” stated Tawadkar.
Loliem Polem Sarpanch Bhushan Prabhugaonkar, Gaondongrim Sarpanch Umesh Gaonkar, Chanda Dessai (BJP Canacona Block Mahila president) and Sarvanand Bhagat (executive member) were also present.
