Cong plans to boycott Rajyotsav-2011

Raipur, October 29, 2011

In the aftermath of Balod eye camp incident, the Congress is planning to boycott Rajyotsav-2011. PCC president Nandkumar Patel says that the government should cancel weeklong state festival starting November 1 respecting the sentiments of the eye victims. He suggested that the celebrations should be symbolic and curtailed to couple of hours. He hinted that the Congress would boycott Rajyotsav-2011, although a decision in this regard would be taken by the senior party leaders in a day or two.

Patel said the government should understand its priorities. “It is time to address the problems of the eye victims and provide them better treatment and compensation package instead of getting involved in pompous celebrations,” he stated.

Flaying Health Minister Amar Agrawal for his indifferent attitude towards victims, Patel said the minister should have at least visited Balod and taken stock of the situation to decide what best provisions could be given to them in terms of treatment and compensation. “Strangely, neither the minister nor Health secretary has time for the victims. In fact, the minister is busy in two of the other portfolios he is handling, i.e. Revenue and Commercial Tax departments. The entire department is impassive towards the issue. In this scenario, how would the Health Department display its achievements in Rajyotsav-2011,” asked Patel.

Demanding quick action against the guilty doctors, Patel said the government should clarify the reasons for delay. He alleged that the government did not intend to punish the guilty doctors. “In fact, the Health Minister himself is saving the guilty doctors. Or else, when district administration had suspended four doctors, why he held suspension orders of the two? If the government will keep on protecting the wrongdoers then where would the people go to tell their problems,” he asked.  

Patel said Raman Singh government was the most insensitive in the country. “Examples are galore but it seems the government has decided to keep its eyes shut from its horrible health infrastructure and negligent doctors. As if Balod incident was not enough to wake up, the government allowed the doctors to commit the same mistake again and again and this time an eye patient in Raigarh became victim of government ophthalmologist. In Rajnandgaon too, some of the patients lost their eyesight due to recklessness of the doctors,” he said.

On paddy procurement, Patel said the Congress adhered to its demand for commencement of paddy purchase from November 1. “It is the government which is uncertain. First, it fixed November 15 as procurement date to benefit the middlemen. But when the Congress met Governor and sought his intervention regarding procurement date, the government hurriedly prescheduled November 10 as new date. We still demand that the paddy should be purchased from November 1 as farmers have already incurred huge loss due to floods in rainy season,” Patel said.