TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: Holding the BJP government responsible for the COVID-19 deaths and now trying to get political mileage by organising event of distributing ex-gratia of Rs two lakh to the families, the Opposition Congress demanded that the government must come clean on the compensation to the families of COVID-19 victims.
Speaking to reporters at the Congress House on Saturday, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) spokesman Tulio de Souza condemned the act of Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant for clicking photographs while handing over cheques of ex-gratia amount to the COVID-19 victims. The "Aapda Me Avasar" mindset of BJP government is nothing but to seek publicity from pains of the people, he charged.
De Souza said that Goa has reported almost 3,299 deaths till date and of these almost 400 patients died due to shortage of oxygen at the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim. These figures are likely to go up as the `failed’ government adds up to the numbers later on as happened on past many occasions, he added.
Exuding confidence that the Congress will form the next government in Goa, De Souza said, “We will ensure to give employment opportunity to the keen of COVID-19 victims especially those children who have lost their parents due to dreaded disease.”
The Congress spokesman said that ex-gratia payment is not a compensation but immediate relief to the next of kin. The government must give compensation to the families of COVID-19 victims.
De Souza alleged that the BJP government made "Business of Peoples Sickness" by politicising "Tika Utsav". They made fortunes from hoarding of essential commodities during lockdown. The government was forced to stop use of Ivermectin tablets as prophylaxis treatment after Congress exposed Rs 22.50 crore scam, he said.
