Saptami was a day of Durga Puja celebrations on Saturday, but it changed the lives of 19 families forever after their loved ones died in a stampede at the Chorbagan puja pandal in Kolkata.
Tapan Halder was waiting at the morgue for the body of his niece, Tania Biswas, to be released after the post-mortem. Tania had come to the pandal with friends, one of whom, Barnali Halder, also died in the stampede. “Management was definitely bad, which is why this happened. My niece and neighbour were there. I was not there. They had come with friends,” said Tapan Halder, who lives in New Town, Kolkata.
Sanjay Sonkar lost his niece, Shubham Sonkar, in the pandal stampede. His brother was at the pandal and later narrated to the family how several people walked over others who had fallen, resulting in deaths. They said the management inside the pandal was inefficient, with pressure from behind causing people at the front to fall forward. “The sad part is that she was the only earning member in the family, working for a private company. She looked after her elderly father, who was blind in one eye and hence not employed. She had younger brothers and sisters,” said Sanjay Sonkar.
An eyewitness who lives near the Chorbagan puja pandal was among several local residents who helped victims of the stampede on Saturday. “I saw a mountain of people; there were dead bodies. Someone’s hands and feet were broken. Many died. We worked on the spot; there were no committee members. It was the local people who helped. We rescued people and put them in ambulances. There was no ambulance or fire engine here,” said Somnath Path.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who is also the Police Minister, held a meeting with senior police officials at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters at Bhawani Bhawan on Sunday. “I spoke to 13 families of the injured. They said police took them to the hospital in taxis,” said Adhikari, adding that the backgrounds of the temporary home guards deployed at the pandal would be examined. The home guards had been handling the entry and exit gates. “The incident did not occur inside the pandal. It occurred at the single entry and exit point, which was demarcated by a rope. The home guards dropped the rope as they did not want to get wet in the rain instead of helping others,” clarified Suvendu Adhikari.
The Chief Minister had announced compensation of ₹25 lakh for the families of the deceased, along with a government job, on Saturday. Compensation of Rs 5 lakh has been offered to each of the 25 injured, apart from the government bearing the cost of their medical treatment. The injured were shifted from the government-run Calcutta Medical College and Hospital to Apollo Hospital, a private facility on EM Bypass.
The government compensation, however, did not offer enough consolation to the bereaved families, who said that until the promised assistance happens, one cannot say anything. “How long will the government keep giving? Beyond giving money, things should be done in a manner that the government does not have to give compensation, with better management. You are providing a job which will run the family, but our daughter is not coming back,” added Sonkar.
Sambhunath Poddar was informed by his daughter’s friend around 7 pm on Saturday that Sreeparna Poddar was lying unconscious and was being shifted to hospital. He later received a call saying that Sreeparna’s body had been covered with a white cloth. “I don't need a job. I had just one daughter who was 26,” said Sambhunath Poddar.
Health Minister Sharadwat Mukherjee was at the morgue overseeing the process of handing over the bodies to the victims’ families after the post-mortems. Seven bodies had been handed over to relatives by Sunday afternoon. “As and when the post-mortem is done, we will hand over the bodies to relatives with full respect. Post-mortem is being done so that the investigation is conducted in a foolproof manner. The injured are all in stable condition; one is serious but stable,” said Sharadwat Mukherjee.
Earlier in the day, West Bengal Governor RN Ravi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the injured at Apollo Hospital before Shah left for Delhi. Shah, who arrived in Kolkata on Saturday evening, cancelled all his Durga Puja programmes following the incident.
Seven people responsible for the mismanagement at the pandal have been arrested, while 14 others have been detained. The Chief Minister said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) would be formed and headed by a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court. The government will write to the Chief Justice in this regard. The SIT will include members from various government departments to further investigate the matter. The Kolkata Police, Fire Department and Kolkata Municipal Corporation will not be part of the SIT, as their roles in issuing licences will also be examined.
The SIT will comprise an official from the Home Department not below the rank of General Secretary, a Director General of Police (DGP) representative not below the rank of Additional Director General, a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) representative, and the Principal Secretary of the Disaster Management Department.
