Bihar BJP leader Ashwani Chaube on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and registration of a case against him for mismanagement of rescue work among stranded pilgrims during the floods in the mountain state two months ago.
"Bahuguna is solely responsible for the death of thousands of pilgrims due to insensitive and callous handling of rescue works after the tragedy struck Uttarakhand on June 17," Chaube, who was himself on pilgrimage in the mountain state with his family at the time, told reporters.
Chaube said the Uttarakhand government should not have allowed pilgrims to proceed to the higher reaches following weather forecasts suggesting heavy rains. Instead it launched expeditious rescue works to save stranded pilgrims after the tragedy struck.
"Thousands of pilgrims who otherwise perished in the natural calamity would have been alive on Wednesday if the state government would have acted in time...the Uttarkhand Chief Minister should be booked under section 302 of the IPC for the death of thousands of people due to his insensitive handling of rescue works."
The BJP leader alleged that Uttarakhand government also denied compensation to the kin of victims by not issuing death certificate for those whose bodies have not been found till date. Chaube, a former health minister in the Nitish Kumar government till June when NDA split, said the Uttarakhand tragedy had been a harrowing personal tragedy for him as six of his relatives and security guards perished in the flash flood in Kedarnath valley.
He and his wife along with other family members had survived by taking refuge in the sanctum sanctorum of Kedarnath temple for days. Chaube said he will sit on a day-long dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on August 12 to highlight the Uttarakhand and Bihar government's insensitive handling of the tragedy.
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