Odisha government neglect led to casualties: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday hit out at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for gross mismanagement in tackling cyclone Titli and the subsequent floods.
Launching a scathing attack on the State Government for its claim of achieving ‘zero casualty’ target despite loss of many lives, Pradhan in a Facebook post said nothing could be more painful and ludicrous to draw a comparison between the State disaster with the recent tropical storm that hit the United States of America.
Earlier, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister S N Patro had stated that the number of casualties in the State is much less in comparison to the death of 170 people in similar natural disaster in the US.
Pradhan said the Minister and several senior officers of the Government made irresponsible statements even after reported death of 13 people and several missing in Gajapati district due to landslide. It is like rubbing slat onto wounds of the families who have lost their dear ones and the calamity-hit people, he added.
Expressing grief over the loss of 13 lives in a landslide in Gajapati district, the Union Minister said the Chief Minister cannot shirk his responsibility by just expressing condolence to the bereaved families and announcing ex-gratia. Pradhan said the natural disaster did not kill the people, but they fell victim to the faulty disaster management of the State Government.