Indore District Magistrate Manish Shukla has said that he has apologised to God and asked for forgiveness for the ‘dumping’ incident of homeless people outside the Madhya Pradesh city. Shukla’s apology to God came days after the video of elderly homeless people being driven outside Indore in a pickup van went viral, evoking strong reactions.
According to news agency PTI, Shukla attended a religious event at a Ganesh temple before speaking to reporters. He was quoted as saying, “Whosoever might have been at fault in this incident, but we are officers and we can’t run away from our responsibility. Hence, we prayed to God to forgive us for our mistakes.”
Sharing the video of homeless people being ruthlessly dumped in the van, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has tweeted, “The incident from Indore in Madhya Pradesh is a blot on humanity. The government and the administration must apologise to these helpless people and issue an order to act against not the junior-level officers but high-ranking officials, who authorised this action.”
इंदौर, मप्र की ये घटना मानवता पर एक कलंक है। सरकार और प्रशासन को इन बेसहारा लोगों से माफी माँगनी चाहिए और ऑर्डर लागू कर रहे छोटे कर्मचारियों पर नहीं बल्कि ऑर्डर देनेवाले उच्चस्थ अधिकारियों पर ऐक्शन होना चाहिए। pic.twitter.com/r47k6Cc6Ox
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) January 30, 2021
Faced with growing criticism, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had ordered the suspension of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) officials. Chouhan had said, “I’ve ordered the suspension of two civic body officials including the deputy commissioner of the municipal corporation and directed the Indore DM to properly look after these elderly residents.”
Indore has won the ‘cleanest city’ award four times in a row and it seems the drive to dump elderly homeless outside the city was to maintain its image on the cleanliness front.