NEW DELHI/Patna: The Centre on Saturday assured all help to the Bihar government to deal with the stampede tragedy in Patna that has left 33 persons dead. Union home minister Rajnath Singh telephoned Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi again Saturday morning and promised all help. “The Bihar Chief Minister apprised me of the latest developments,” Mr Singh tweeted.
Mr Singh assured Mr Manjhi of all help from the Centre, including medical assistance, and asked him to provide medical treatment to the injured. Soon after the stampede on Friday night, Mr Singh had spoken to Mr Manjhi. Meanwhile, a blame-game broke out over the stampede in Bihar, with the Opposition BJP and other party leaders holding the state government responsible for the incident.
While the BJP accused the Manjhi government of “lapses” that led to the tragedy, Union minister and LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan trashed the inquiry ordered by the state government as an “eyewash” and demanded a probe by a sitting Patna High Court judge. Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav said, “The loss of 33 lives is due to the failure of the administration.
The arrangements for Ravan Vadh ceremony at Gandhi Maidan were very slack in comparison to the crowd that attends it.” Meanwhile, accounts by witnesses and officials point at rumour having a possible hand in the tragedy. According to police officials present at the place of occurrence, a rumour about electric supply line falling on the crowd near the western exit gate of Gandhi Maidan spread like wildfire, triggering panic among people who ran for cover.
“Actually it was a broken cable TV wire. Some people, including youths, started the rumour about it being an electricity line. Sudden panic gripped the people and they trampled over one another in their efforts to run away from the place. Women and children bore the brunt,” said Satya Narayan Ram, DSP said. A half-a-kilometre-long trail of left over shoes, slippers and footwear from Ram Gulam Chowk outside Gandhi Maidan, where the stampede started, to the eastern gate of the ground.
