Chidambaram slams PM and asks him to wake up to realities about poverty in India.
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New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Wednesday slammed the Modi government at the Centre, saying it is time that the Prime Minister woke up to reality about poverty and not repeat the statistics about toilets, housing and open defection-free numbers fed by bureaucrats.
His statement came a day after atleast 15 construction workers from Rajasthan, including a girl child were crushed to death by a truck in Gujarat's Surat early on Tuesday morning.
"The tragedy of 15 migrant construction workers being run over and killed in Gujarat must open our eyes to the reality of poverty in India," Chidambaram said in his statement.
The former Finance Minister also fired the government asking why the labourers were sleeping on the roadside.
"Is not the contractor obliged to provide them shelter near the construction site? Where do they wash, bathe, cook and keep their children? On the roadside in the open?" he asked.
The incident happened when the dumper truck lost control and ran over some 20 sugarcane farm labourers who were sleeping on the roadside. Twelve were killed on the spot, one died while being shifted to hospital and two succumbed later during treatment while six others were being treated in hospital.
The driver has been arrested and charged, PTI reported. He was also injured in the crash and is being treated at the hospital.