Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the Supreme Court had given the Union government an opportunity to rectify its mistake by directing it to pay compensation to the kin of all those who died of COVID-19.
“SC has given an opportunity to the Modi government to rectify its mistake. At least now the government should provide relief to the victims by fixing the right amount of compensation. This is an important step in the right direction,” he tweeted.
Earlier, in the day, a bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan held that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) -- headed by the Prime Minister as its ex officio chairperson – had failed to perform its duty and gave six weeks to fix the guidelines for fixing the ex gratia amount.
“This is a vindication of the Congress Party’s stance and the demand raised by Rahul Gandhi for the creation of a COVID Compensation Fund and grant of Rs. 10 Lakh to every COVID-19 victim by the Central Government by transferring 10% of the annual ‘Fuel Loot’ of Rs. 4 Lakh Crore being collected by the Government of India,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement .
Mr. Gandhi again targeted the government on high taxes imposed on petrol and diesel by tweeting with the hash tag #TaxExtortion- “Long-inconvenient queues for public transport aren't just due to Covid restrictions. See the rates of petrol-diesel in your city to find out the real reason.”
