By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 20 Aug: Leader of the Opposition Yashpal Arya today alleged that the Uttarakhand government has lost its sensitivity and is deliberately ignoring the victims of the recent Kedarnath disaster. Yashpal Arya levelled this allegation after meeting the family members of 22-year-old Himanshu Negi, who is missing from Gaurikund after the Kedarnath disaster on 31 July. Himanshu Negi is a resident of Parwadi village adjacent to the Gairsain Assembly premises.
In his meeting with Arya, Himanshu Negi’s father Narendra Singh Negi informed Arya that he had gone to Sonprayag on 3 August after failing to receive any information about the whereabouts of his son and after not receiving any call from him since the time of disaster in Kedar Valley. There he reported his son’s disappearance to the Sonprayag police station. The family members said that they have been told that Himanshu’s missing report was registered on 12 August. The family members allege that the government and the administration have not even given them an update about the whereabouts of his son and have apparently not made any serious attempt to find him. In response to his queries, the administration has always claimed that the rescue was on.
Arya alleged that till now the government has not made public any information about the number of casualties, those missing, injured and the sick in the Kedarnath disaster. Like Himanshu’s family, Sanatani believers from all over the country are still reaching Sonprayag to search for their relatives. Arya further alleged that far from helping these troubled families, the government is treating them insensitively. He claimed that the government has not even helped the injured and the sick during the disaster. People are somehow going to hospitals to get themselves treated. As per the tradition, the government should have made a special cell to help the disaster victims, which has not been made even after 20 days of the disaster.
The Leader of the Opposition alleged that the government wants to prove itself clean by suppressing the information, but this is not possible. Arya also met Himanshu’s grandfather Jamun Singh Negi, uncle Dheer Singh Negi, mother, younger sister and other family members and consoled them and assured them of all possible help. MLA Madan Bisht and former Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat were also present with the Leader of the Opposition.
