Journalism of Courage
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar,who visited injured and kin of deceased at the Sassoon Hospital in the city on Wednesday,promised that despite of model code of conduct,the government will instruct the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to handover the compensation immediately.
He also said the incident would be investigated thoroughly. Its very sad that a tragedy has hit the city. The hospitals where the injured are being treated have been instructed to take all measures for speedy recovery of the injured, said Pawar.
Pawar said the details about the incident and the driver would only emerge after a thorough investigation.
There are several questions that need to be answered. If he (the driver) was mentally unstable,as some people have claimed,then how was he allowed to drive the bus. As per S T officials,he had driven a bus from Gaangapur to Pune last night. Police will have to take the help of doctors to ascertain if he was mentally unstable, said Pawar.
On the Sassoon Hospital being under equipped to handle such tragedy Pawar said,Only a few years ago the government had earmarked Rs 65 crores for developing modern facilities at the hospital. In case,the hospital needs more funds,we would provide the same after the code of conduct is over. Today,the hospital authorities and collectorate officials fully cooperated with those who wanted to shift their kin to private hospitals, he said.
When journalists raised questions about the slack response by Police as Mane went on rampage for over 45 minutes without being stopped,Pawar said,According to my information,police sprung into action immediately after receiving information. Police had erected barricades and had closed down the roads. It took time to catch him as he was driving on the wrong side of the road,
SEC agrees
With state election commissioner Neela Satyanarayan declaring that the model code of conduct will not come in the way of compensation,the deceased families are likely to get compensation soon.
Satyanarayan said since there is a calamity,the state government can give compensation without making any formal announcement.
Resident deputy collector,Anil Pawar,said they have submitted the list of the deceased and the injured to the Chief Minister. However,there were no directions given because of the model code of conduct,said Pawar.
Senior officials from the district administration said it is expected that the funds will be disbursed from the Chief Ministers fund. He will not be able to make an announcement,but the families will get the compensation,said the official.
