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| Madhya Pradesh stampede toll rises |
| Madhya Pradesh stampede toll rises to 115, Congress demands Chief Minister's resignation
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| INDIA
, 14-October-2013
3:52:11 AM |
| In a tragedy that cast a long shadow on Dussehra celebrations, at least 115 people killed and over 80 injured in a stampede yesterday morning in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district, nearly 400 km from Bhopal.
The panic was triggered by rumours that the bridge across Sindh river the devotees were crossing was about to collapse. There are unconfirmed reports saying that the stampede took place as some people were trying to jump the queue and police used batons to control them, a charge denied by a top police official of the state.
Some eyewitnesses even blamed the police for spreading the rumour. Questions are also being raised over the preparedness of the officials with reports suggesting there were only 250 policemen to control a crowd of lakhs.
A man, who lost four of his relatives including his two-year-old son, told NDTV, "There was no help. I had to hire a car to carry them to the hospital."
Though the state government ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident, it seems no lessons were learnt from an incident in 2006 in which over 50 people were washed away at the same spot. The bridge was constructed after that tragedy in 2008.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, expected to visit the site today, was attacked by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh as politics over the tragedy began ahead of the state assembly elections due in November.
"Reason for Ratangarh Mata disaster? Police was charging Rs. 200 from each tractor and allowing in no traffic zone. Good Governance in MP?" Mr Singh tweeted late last night.
To which Mr Chouhan tweeted back, "Politics on any tragedy is unwanted. The focus should be on attending to the injured & take steps to avoid any such incidents in the future."
Another Congress leader, Ajay Maken, demanded Mr Chouhan's resignation over the tragedy. "Congress is hurt that the Madhya Pradesh government hasn't learnt anything from previous cases. They are answerable and cannot evade responsibility,"
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