India News | Congress, BJP Slam Kerala Govt over Recent Suicide of 'saksharatha Prerak'

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 11 (PTI) The Congress and BJP on Saturday came down heavily on the Left governmment in Kerala over the recent suicide of a literacy worker in Kollam district allegedly due to financial constraints, and sought the dispensation's urgent intervention to distribute the pending honorarium of 'saksharatha preraks' in the state.

Also Read | Cryptocurrency Is Under Discussion With G20 Nations, Says Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Hailing from Pathanapuram in southern Kollam district, Bijumon, an award-winning literacy worker who had been working as a 'saksharatha prerak' under the Kerala State Literacy Mission for many years, died by suicide on February 9.

Also Read | New Tax Regime to Benefit Middle Class; Leave More Money in Their Hands, Says FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

The shocking incident came at a time when his co-literacy workers' agitation before the state Secretariat here, demanding disbursal of pending honorarium at the earliest, crossed 80 days.

Bijumon's family members and friends alleged that he had been under severe distress due to the non-payment of honorarium for the last six months, and he was struggling to meet both ends.

Terming the incident as "painful", Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan sent a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan demanding speedy disbursal of the salary of the agitating workers.

He also wanted the government to take steps to protect the family of the deceased literacy worker.

In the letter, Satheesan said he had visited Bijumon's mother and other family members on Friday and they were lamenting that the non-payment of the salary and the subsequent financial woes had forced him to take the extreme step.

Bijumon's mother said her son was in such dire straits that he could not even buy vegetables for a day, the Congress leader pointed out in the letter.

As per the Saksharatha Preraks' Association, as many as eight literacy workers had already ended their life due to lack of salary disbursements, he said.

"Saksharatha Preraks are those who have dedicated their lives to bring common man to the world of knowledge. The government is requested to immediately distribute the pending honorarium without causing any more such suicides," Satheesan added.

The BJP also criticised the state government over the issue and urged it to distribute the pending salary to the saksharata preraks without any delay.

It blamed the economic management of the state government for the current situation, and the recent suicide of a litercy worker in Pathanapuram and a farmer in Vaikom due to finacial crisis were victims.

State party chief K Surendran urged the government to give the salary dues to agitating literacy workers instead of announcing Rs 10 crore to quake-hit Turkiye and Syria.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)