Objecting to the way the lockdown to combat coronavirus is being implemented, the Congress party has demanded that the Union and State governments provide liberal financial aid to the common people to help them cope with the crisis.
Addressing the media here after calling on the bereaved families of 10 farm workers who were electrocuted recently near Machavaram village in Prakasam district on Saturday, APCC president S. Sailajanath said the toiling masses were facing severe hardship in the wake of the “ill-planned lockdown.”
He demanded that the State government pay a compensation of ₹1 crore each to the families of the deceased who had gone to work in a chilli farm on the lines of the gas leak victims in Visakhapatnam. “This type of discrimination is unacceptable for the Congress party,” he added.
He also said that families of those who were not income tax assessees should be provided with a financial aid of ₹10,000 each and essential commodities till economic activity resumed. The governments should also take responsibility for paying electricity bills and house rents of such pesple.
‘Jugglery of figures’
Describing as “financial jugglery” the ₹20,00,000 crore economic package announced by the Centre, he said people were still waiting for the ₹15 lakh each promised by the Modi Government by unearthing black money stashed in tax havens abroad.
He said the Congress party was ready to bear the expenses for running two trains at the State level and two buses each at the district level to transport migrant workers.
