Thiruvananthapuram: The Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet on Thursday sanctioned Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the family of 56-year-old Bindu who died last week when a part of a building at the state-owned Kottayam Medical College Hospital came down and she was buried under it.
There was a huge outrage as two ministers, namely Health Minister Veena George and Ports Minister V.N. Vasavan who reached the spot, categorically ruled out the presence of anyone under the debris as the toilet block had been closed for a while.
Later, Bindu’s body was pulled out from the debris and the Congress and the BJP demanded that the family, which was surviving on Bindu’s meager Rs 300 daily income, should be adequately compensated.
When Vasavan and George visited the home of Bindu, her relatives also raised the demand for compensation.
Sadly her son, who has completed his engineering, was waiting to give his first salary to his mother, when the tragedy occurred.
The Cabinet apart from Rs 10 lakh compensation also decided to give a state government job to Bindu’s son, matching his qualifications.
George had earlier announced that Bindu’s daughter who was earlier admitted to the hospital for a surgery when the mishap took place, would be treated for free and she has now been admitted back to the hospital.
As CM Vijayan is in the US for medical treatment, the weekly Cabinet meeting was held online.
Chandy Oommen the Congress legislator who arrived at the hospital on that fateful day after hearing about the incident, was the first person to raise an alarm that there could be people buried under the debris. It was only then that the rescue operation began and after two hours the dead body of Bindu was pulled out.
“We expected the government to give Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the family. However, a government job has been given, which is a good gesture. We had strongly demanded this,” said Oommen.
(IANS)
