AGARTALA, Aug 7: Tripura Social Welfare Minister Tinku Roy on Thursday visited the parents of the driver who died after being trapped in a cement-laden lorry earlier this week, and handed over a financial assistance of Rs 6 lakh to them.
The driver, identified as Mihir Lal Debnath, was a resident of Dasda in North Tripura.
He was trapped inside the cabin of the lorry after the vehicle hit a tree in Khowai district’s Chakmaghat in the early hours of Tuesday. He died as a prolonged rescue operation failed.
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While the District Magistrate of Khowai has been served a show cause notice, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Teliamura has been suspended, and the officer in charge of Teliamura Fire Service station was show-caused for their alleged negligence in the incident.
“Following an instruction from Chief Minister Manik Saha, we arrived at Dasda to stand by the bereaved family in the hour of crisis. Rs 6 lakh has been given to the family, and the government will also arrange social pension,” Roy told reporters.
Terming the incident as tragic, the minister, who was accompanied by Industries & Commerce Minister Santana Chakma and District Magistrate Chandi Chandran, said it would have been avoided had the local administration been more alert.
Meanwhile, the Left’s workers under the banner of CITU and Tripura Motor Sramik Union (TMSU) on Thursday staged a rally protesting what they called “the insensitivity of the government” in handling the emergency situation.
“The government is spending substantial money in the name of disaster management, but failed to act at the critical time. The death of a lorry driver at Chakmaghat has exposed the administration’s ill-preparedness to handle a difficult time,” CITU state secretary Manik Dey told the reporters.
He demanded that the government compensate the family and order a magisterial-level probe into the Chakmaghat incident.
The state government has already constituted a three-member committee headed by Revenue Secretary Brijesh Pandey to probe into the tragic incident. (PTI)
