Mumbai: Maharashtra Minority Affair Minister and NCP Chief Spokesman Nawab Malik has expressed serious disappointment over the registration of offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the barge P305 captain Rakesh Ballav and others, saying that it was not enough. Malik, said the police should instead register an offence of culpable homicide against the ONGC.
‘’Employees have lost their lives. The responsibility should be fixed and the concerned should be punished. The barge owner, contractors and ONGC, the principal employer, should be made co-accused in this case,’’ said Malik.
The NCP leaders said the formation of a three-member committee to probe the sequence of events leading to the stranding of the ONGC vessels in the cyclone was also not enough, adding that the petroleum ministry and the ONGC should be made answerable.
In a related development, the ONGC has announced cash relief for families of the deceased and survivors of the private contractor-operated barge that sank in the Arabian Sea. An immediate relief of Rs 1 lakh will be provided to the 186 survivors of the sunk barge and Rs 2 lakh will go to the dead and missing persons' families.