BHOPAL: After meeting the families affected by water contamination in Indore, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the BJP-led state government of shirking its responsibility, and said the deaths in India’s cleanest city is the new model smart city that doesn’t even have clean drinking water.
“It was promised that the country will get smart cities. What happened in Indore is the new model smart city, where there is no drinking water. This is new urban model is not confined to Indore alone, but also happening in other cities,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha told reporters after meeting 18 bereaved families in Bhagirathpura locality.
He said the government has to own up the responsibility for what happened in Indore. “The affected families are entitled to compensation, as the tragedy happened due to government’s negligence only,” he added. Gandhi handed over cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to families he met.
Pointing towards an overhead water tank, he said, “This tank symbolises that still there is no clean water here; only band aid has been applied. People want that a proper system is put in place to provide them clean drinking water,” Gandhi said. Reacting to accusation of BJP leaders, including CM Mohan Yadav, that he is politicising the issue, Gandhi said, “I’m the Leader of Opposition. I am here to ensure that residents get clean drinking water.”
During Gandhi’s visit to Indore, CM Yadav visited the now defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal and questioned the previous central government headed by Rajiv Gandhi on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. “Instead of playing politics on dead bodies in Indore, Rahul Gandhi should apologise for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy which claimed thousands of lives. He should particularly apologise for allowing the prime accused Warren Anderson flee from Bhopal and India, as it was his (Rahul’s) father who ruled at the Centre, while a Congress government was in power in MP at that time.”