Urge LG to order investigation to fix responsibility
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee, Apni Party and CPI (M) have termed the suicide incident of Kulgam youth as shocking.
Reacting to the suicide incident in Kulgam, JKPCC in a statement said that the officials responsible for withholding the salary of a teacher for about a year, as reported, should be held accountable.
The party urged the Lieutenant Governor administration to order investigation into matter to fix responsibility. “The Government should release the salary of all similarly situated employees working in various departments to ensure that no other incident of such nature happens,” the statement added.
Apni Party President Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari expressed deep shock and grief over a heartbreaking incident over the suicide incident.
In a statement, Bukhari termed the incident as extremely disturbing wherein a youth in order to draw attention of the people at the helms of affairs towards the sufferings of his family has had to give up his life.
“This highly horrible incident depicts an appalling picture of the level of mental stress and trauma of the families whose salaries have been withheld by an apathetic bureaucratic set-up even in the pressing times of Covid-19 pandemic. I hope the incident acts as an eye opener and a wake-up call for the government,” he said.
He demanded that a strict action must be taken against those officials whose impervious attitude resulted in this sad incident. He urged the Lt. Governor of J&K to order a thorough probe in this matter on humanitarian grounds and bring the officers to book whose lackadaisical approach forced the youth to sacrifice his life.
Bukhari also demanded that the families of the teachers whose salaries have been withheld due to some reasons must not be allowed to suffer and the departed should immediately release their salaries before they are forced to resort to such unwarranted actions.
While expressing shock and grief over the suicide incident, CPI (M) leader M Y Tarigami demanded a time-bound probe and fixing of responsibility into the incident.
“The youth, who was a son of a government school teacher, was reportedly forced to take an extreme step after his father was denied salary for the past two years. Even if reports of his father being a former militant are true, it should have been verified before he entered into service,” Tarigami said in a statement.
“Media reports say that after verification, he was allowed to join the job as part of the government’s rehabilitation policy for former militants. Why are such people and their families being punished for it now? If somebody has shunned the path of violence 20 years back and returned to the mainstream, he should be allowed to live peacefully,” he added.
“There is a need to hold a proper probe into the incident which led to this teacher’s young son to take such a harsh step. I hope J&K Lieutenant Governor will order a probe into this incident and bring the officers to book whose lackadaisical approach forced the youth to take his life,” he said.
Chairman Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen also expressed profound grief and shock over a heart wrenching suicide incident by a youth of Kulgam.
He said the cause of the suicide narrated by the youth in a recorded video message speaks volumes about callous attitude adopted by the authorities at the helm of affairs towards timely redressal of grievances of the common people especially youth.
Yaseen said it was shocking that the youth has been forced to take the extreme step to commit suicide just to invite government attention towards the miseries of his family due to non-payment of salary to his father who is a teacher.
