Leader of opposition in the state assembly Ajit Pawar on Thursday demanded a judicial probe into the Kharghar heat stroke incident even as Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut accused the Eknath Shinde government in the state of hiding real numbers of people who lost lives in the Maharashtra bhushan Award ceremony.
The government, however, announced the appointment of a one-member secretary-level committee for the probe.
Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Nitin Keer to probe the incident
CM Eknath Shinde announced the appointment of a one-member committee constituting Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Nitin Keer to probe the incident of sunstroke that led to the death of 15 persons attending the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony at Kharghar on April 16.
The committee shall look into the facts of the incident and recommend steps to be taken while organising such functions and submit its report to the state government in a month’s time, a statement from CMO said.
The formation of the committee comes amid severe criticism of the state government for organising an event on such a grand scale amid the scorching summer and without adequate arrangements.
Oppn seeks a case of culpable homicide against govt
Opposition parties, including the Congress and NCP, have sought a case of culpable homicide against the state government for the deaths, while Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has claimed the toll is in the range of 50-75 and not 14 as stated by the government.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who had earlier written to CM Shinde demanding higher compensation for the kin of the victims, wrote to Governor Ramesh Bais on Thursday and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Pawar also said that the state government’s apathy was responsible for the deaths, and it should be booked for “culpable homicide”.
“People (who attended the event) had no access to water and food for seven hours. As there was no planning for crowd control, ambulances could not reach the spot on time. Despite the harsh heat conditions, the function was organised in an open place. A company with no prior experience of organising such events was given the work, spending Rs 14 crore,” he said in the letter, even as postmortem reports of the victims suggested an empty stomach as a possible cause for the deaths.
These were not natural deaths but caused by government apathy, therefore the government should be booked for culpable homicide, the Leader of Opposition said.
He also demanded that an expert committee be set up to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) to ensure such incidents do not happen in the future.
