STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: All J and K Passengers’ Welfare Association (AJKPWA) on Tuesday demanded resignations from Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Transport Minister, Abdul Ghani Kohli for their failure in saving the lives of innocent passengers in yesterday’s accident in which 24 passengers were killed and several injured due to overloading at Maroti in Udhampur.
In a statement issued here on Tuesday, President AJKPWA, R.C Sharma demanded Rs 20 lakh as compensation to families of each deceased, specialised treatment for injured passengers including critical injured with Rs 10 lakh as compensation, besides a government job to a member of bereaved families and those who got disabled.
Sharma urged government to sack all those government employees on duty, who are responsible to check the overloading including police and traffic police personnel. He also demanded to register a murder case against the owner of the bus (JK02A 2858) and put him behind bars.
Sharma said that government should take this accident as wakeup call and constitute a commission of enquiry headed by a retired judge in this case. Criticising the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues, he said that no minister has visited the GMC till now and even the site of accident.
The association categorically criticised the Transport Minister for his lackadaisical approach in the matter. The members alleged that the said Minister refused to discuss the transport related issues with the stakeholders despite regular requests by the association. A similar representation was also submitted in the office of Transport Secretary for the same purpose but to no avail. It seems that the present government is just to enjoy the fruits of power at the cost of poor people’s lives, he added.