A 40-year-old flood victim from north Gujarat has died after attempting self-immolation.
Dinesh Thakor, a resident of Dhanera of Banaskantha district, succumbed to burn injuries at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on Tuesday. He had immolated himself last week and suffered more than 70 per cent burns.
According to reports, he had lost his cattle in the floods and received a meagre compensation. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Mamlatdar of Dhanera, B.S. Kharadi, said that the victim was given compensation of Rs 7,000 for the loss of household items and Rs 2,250 as cash dole. He claimed that there was no report of Thakor owning cattle.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had spent five days in the flood affected regions of north Gujarat. Apart from the Centre's assistance, the Gujarat government also announced a series of measures and assistance. It also decided not to take electricity bill from the farmers for three months. Stills and videos from the chief minister's visit are being used to propagate the BJP's achievements ahead of assembly polls due by the year end.
BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said that the government did initiate several measures in right time. However, it can so happen that a person can take an extreme step due to the magnitude of devastation.
The BJP criticised opposition Congress for taking away 44 MLAs to Karnataka at a time when they were needed in the flood-ravaged areas. The Congress had taken away the MLAs to the state ruled by it after some of them complained that the BJP was threatening them ahead of Rajya Sabha polls. The BJP had denied the allegations.
Later on, when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi visited flood-affected areas, he was shown black flags and his car was also stoned.
