Govt pays Rs 6 lakh to family of driver who died after being trapped in a cement laden truck

The Social Welfare Minister Tinku Roy along with Industries and Commerce Minister Santana Chakma on Thursday visited the parents of the driver who died after being trapped in a cement-laden truck on Tuesday after Disaster Management totally failed to rescue him during hours long endavour, and handed over a financial assistance of Rs 6 lakh to them.

The driver, identified as Mihir Lal Debnath, was a resident of Dasda in North Tripura.

He was trapped inside the cabin of the lorry after the vehicle hit a tree in Khowai district’s Chakmaghat, near Teliamura in the early hours of Tuesday. He died as a prolonged rescue operation failed.

While the District Magistrate (DM) of Khowai has been served a show cause notice, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Teliamura has been suspended, and the officer in charge (OC) of Teliamura Fire Service station was show-caused for their alleged negligence in the incident.

Following an instruction from Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, the team of ministers arrived at Dasda to stand by the bereaved family in the hour of crisis. Rs 6 lakh has been given to the family, and the government will also arrange social pension, said Minister Tinku Roy.

Terming the incident as tragic, the minister and District Magistrate Chandi Chandran, said it would have been avoided had the local administration been more alert.

Meanwhile, the Left’s workers under the banner of CITU and Tripura Motor Sramik Union on Thursday staged a rally protesting what they called the insensitivity of the government in handling the emergency situation.

The government is spending substantial money in the name of disaster management, but failed to act at the critical time. The death of a lorry driver at Chakmaghat has exposed the administration’s ill-preparedness to handle a difficult time, said CITU state secretary and former minister Manik Dey.

He demanded that the government compensate the family and order a magisterial-level probe into the Chakmaghat incident.

Tripura  government has also constituted a three-member committee headed by Revenue Secretary, Brijesh Pandey to probe into the tragic incident.