Uttarakhand CM faces ire of accident victims’ kin

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had to face the ire of the kin of the schoolchildren killed in a recent road accident at Kangsali village of Tehri when he went to commiserate with them on Sunday.

The accident had taken place on August 6 morning when an overloaded van taking the children to their school fell into a deep gorge, resulting in the death of 10 children and injuries to eight others.

Rawat offered a cheque for Rs 1 lakh to the kin of each deceased children but they refused to accept it.

Angry relatives of the children handed over a memorandum to the chief minister, listing their six demands, but the latter allegedly did not pay any attention to it.

It enraged the kin of the children, who began shouting slogans against the chief minister, prompting him to leave within half an hour, cutting short his visit.

Prima facie, overloading had caused the mishap, following which four officials of the police, transport and education departments were suspended on the chief minister's order.

Local villagers have threatened to stage a dharna against the chief minister on August 13.

Earlier, Rawat paid tributes to the schoolchildren killed in the accident by observing a two-minute silence and extended his condolences to their families.

Describing the accident "unfortunate", the chief minister assured stern action against those responsible for the mishap.