The death of an ailing woman who was refused an ambulance in West Bengal’s Malda district due to bad roads and was carried to a health facility on a bamboo cot had triggered a political row with both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP blaming each other.
The tragic incident occurred at Madangola village in the Bamangola block of Malda district on November 17, when a 25-year-old woman died while being taken to a hospital on a bamboo cot (charpoy). Her family members and local residents said ambulances and vehicles refused to enter her village due to the poor condition of road.
Videos of the ailing woman, Mamani Roy, being carried by a group of people on the bamboo cot went viral on social media, putting the ruling Trinamool Congress in a tight spot. The woman’s husband Kartick Roy said he had taken his wife on a cot since ambulance drivers refused to come to the village.
The Opposition parties targeted the ruling Trinamool over the issue, calling the incident ‘shameful’. The incident comes at a time when the Trinamool government in the State’s Budget earlier this year had announced a new scheme called ‘Rastashree’ for construction of rural roads. The fund allocated for the scheme was ₹3,000 crore.
BJP slams govt.
BJP leader and party’s co-incharge of West Bengal Amit Malviya raised the issue on social media and said the condition of the road was so bad that ambulances or e-rickshaws refused to come to the village. “Mamata Banerjee should stop worrying about the saffron and focus on providing basic services to the people of West Bengal. Expecting her to provide them dignity and respectability is far-fetched…”, Mr. Malaviya posted on X, formerly Twitter.
To make matters worse for the ruling party, State’s Minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury said ‘fate’ was the reason behind the death of the woman. “She did not die because of bad roads. Death was her fate.” Mr. Chowdhury had said.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty took a swipe at the Minister for his comment. “Now, they will say, because of fate, thousands of job seekers are sitting on the road and not owing to job scams. They will say, Partha Chatterjee and Jyotipriya Mallick are in jail because of fate and not for engaging in corruption,” the CPI(M) central committee member said.
Amid the political slugfest over the incident, the Trinamool leadership tried to put the blame on the BJP government at the Centre. The Trinamool said repair of rural roads was not being done because funds under the PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana) were withheld by the Centre.
Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said Bamangola falls under the Maldah Uttar Lok Sabha constituency and Habibpur Assembly constituency which are represented by BJP MP Khagen Murmu and BJP MLA Joyel Murmu respectively.
“Because not only are PMGSY funds being withheld by the @BJP4India -led Centre but the money that is being sent by the GoWB for the construction & renovation of rural roads, under the Pathashree-Rastashree scheme is being pocketed by the local BJP administration,” Mr. Ghosh said on social media.
Published - November 19, 2023 09:35 pm IST
