Rahul Gandhi alleges cover-up
Congress vice-president visits Chhattisgarh victims
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-11-16 01:51 GMT
Raipur: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the Chhattisgarh government of attempting to “cover up” and destroying evidences in the botched sterilisation incident in which 14 women died after undergoing tubectomy in free health camps in Bilaspur district.“Instead of taking responsibility for the incident, medicines (used in government organised sterilisation camps) were burnt. Evidences are being destroyed. They (the state government) are trying to cover up the case,” Mr Gadhi, who visited the state on Saturday, said.
Mr Gandhi met survivors of the tragedy being treated in a hospital in Bilashpur and also the family members of the deceased in the village of Amnesa in the district.“This is not just a case of negligence, but a case of corruption, of fake drugs which is the responsibility of the government”, he said, adding, “I met the families of the women who lost their lives. Due to (contaminated) medicines the women had to face complications. What needs to be done at the first place is a thorough probe of what happened.”
He held the state government, particularly health minister Amar Agrawal, squarely responsible for the tragedy and assured the affected families his party would take the issue to its logical conclusion to give them justice.Meanwhile, at least a dozen women who had undergone sterilisatoin surgery in different health camps in the district were still in a critical condition, while 122 other women, beneficiaries of free tubectomy surgeries in the camps, have been undergoing treatment.
The two directors of Mahawar Pharmaceuticals Private Limited the manufacturer of the alleged spurious drugs that caused the tragedy Ramesh Mahawar and his son Sumit have been remanded to police custody till November 19.They were arrested early on Friday.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Mr Modi had asked Chhatt-isgarh CM Raman Singh to ensure a thorough investigation into the botched surgeries before leaving for his three-nation tour.A section within the BJP’s state unit is also miffed with the CM for failing to fix any accou-ntability on health minister Amar Aggarwal, who is considered close to him. Incidentally, Bilaspur is Mr Aggarwal’s constituency. Mr Raman Singh has dismissed the Opposition’s dema-nds for his or the health minister’s resignation, saying it would not solve the problem. Som-e leaders feel it has sent out a negative message about the BJP government.