Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy on Friday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kollam on the day of the fire accident that killed more than 100 people a ‘big relief’.
NDTV quoted the CM as saying, “That the PM came…a national leader came to Kerala is definitely a big relief for Keralites… the preference they showed for Kerala and the help offered is immense. We now need to focus on rendering the best treatment to the injured.”
The CM’s response came in the wake of the Kerala DGP T N Senkumar’s statement wherein he said that he had opposed the visit of PM Modi and other VIPs to Kollam on the day of the fire tragedy.
"I did object to the idea of the Prime Minister visiting the region within 12 hours of the accident. I told them it would be better for the PM to visit the spot a day after the disaster. But the PM wanted to visit that day itself. Our entire force was engaged in rescue and relief work even before dawn. So much work was still left and all of them were tired because there was no provision of even drinking water. We then had to make security arrangements for the Prime Minister Modi as well as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi,” Senkumar told the Indian Express.
Hours after the accident, both Modi and Rahul -in quick succession- had visited the Puttingal Devi temple at Paravur and the Kollam district hospital where the injured victims of the accident were being treated.
Reacting to the police officer’s comment, Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy told NDTV that the PM could have visited early in the morning, but he preferred to wait till evening for the rescue operations to be over.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had also tweeted saying that he deliberately delayed his visit by a day as the first day after a tragedy is usually meant for rescue and relief work.