A team of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) workers was on Friday caught on video trying to dump homeless elders by the side of a highway.
The video reportedly shot by a few locals and widely shared online shows two IMC workers trying to move a man and a frail, elderly woman wrapped in filthy rags into a Corporation vehicle after opposition from villagers in Kshipra on the outskirts of Indore City.
The locals protested the IMC workers’ move to dump the elderly people on the highway during the chilly winter when the mercury touched 7.2 degrees Centigrade on the previous [Thursday] night.
The BJP government in the State criticised the behaviour of the IMC employees.
“Today, I got information about inhuman treatment of old people by Municipal Corporation employees in Indore... two employees, including the Deputy Commissioner, [who were] responsible have been suspended. The District Collector has been instructed to take proper care of the elderly,” the Chief Minister tweeted.
“Inhuman treatment towards the elderly will not be tolerated at any cost. Every aged person should get respect and love. This is our culture and also human religion,” he added.
Acting swiftly, Madhya Pradesh Urban Administration Minister Bhupendra Singh dismissed the two employees.
However, as per media reports, the IMC has defended the act of its employees by maintaining that they were actually helping the people.
IMC Additional Commissioner Abhay Rajangaonkar claimed that the municipal employees were moving the homeless people to a night shelter. He denied allegations that they had been dropped off on the outskirts of the city.
Opposition slams govt.
The State’s main Opposition party, the Congress, launched a scathing attack on the BJP government.
“In the name of cleanliness, officials of the Indore Municipal Corporation left the elderly in the cold. What can the poor officials do... they are working according to the ideology of the BJP, which has left out many elderly leaders... like Advani ji , Joshi ji , Yashwant Sinha,” Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja said.
The commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh and known as ‘Mini Bombay,’ Indore was adjudged India’s cleanest city for four consecutive years by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
