Jammu, Nov 27 (KNS): Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee, president G A Mir on Saturday said that the government should provide compensation to the COVID-19 affected people as its basic responsibility is to serve the people.

As per Kashmir News Service (KNS), addressing a press conference at Jammu, Mir said that government should provide compensation to the people who lost their lives due to COVID-19.

He said that 8 months ago the party had demanded from the government the actual figure of the people who died due to the COVID-19, but till date no figure has been given by the government.

“The government figure is about only those people who died in the hospitals during the treatment but most of the people died on roads due to the virus as they were not able to reach the hospitals due to non-availability of beds and space,” he said.

Mir said that three layered death occurred during the COVID-19 including the people who were admitted in hospitals, people who were on their way to hospitals and people who died at their homes due to fear and stigma surrounding them. “The government has not provided the details of the deaths which occurred in the nation in three layered manner.”

Mir said that the Congress has always advocated that the COVID-19 affected families should be given a compensation. “Government is by the people, of the people and for the people. This is central to our democracy and rest lies after it. To serve the citizens of the country is the basic responsibility of every government,” he said. 

He said that the government was not prepared in advance for the COVID-19 pandemic. “They have completely failed to save the lives of lakhs of people. At least now the government should provide the nation with actual figures of deaths which happened due to Covid-19,” he said.

Mir said that the Congress party under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi demanded to provide Rs. 4 lakh compensation to each person, who died of Covid-19.

He said that for the last two years the whole world along with India is suffering on all fronts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Rahul Gandhi was the only leader who first felt that preventive measures be taken in advance before the pandemic takes a toll on the people,” he said.

Mir said that Rahul Gandhi had informed the government about measures and preparations to fight against the virus which already had taken millions of lives all over the world. “But still, the government was not prepared to fight against the virus which took lakhs of lives,” he said.

He also said that the aftermath of demonetisation policy by the government was extremely alarming. “People died due to heart attacks, they suffered huge losses, they were not able to feed their families. This was the repercussion of the demonetisation policy adopted by centre,” he said.

Mir said that farmers protest which lasted for more than a year also led to huge losses to the agriculture as well as to the country. “Many lives were lost during the farmers protest in which around 600-700 farmers died,” he said.

Mir said that for the last two years the situation has only been worsened by the irresponsible attitude of the government. (KNS)