This story is from January 17, 2017

Sovan claims no stampede, pilgrims say volunteer’s baton caused panic

The Mamata Banerjee government has yet again locked horns with Narendra Modi, this time over the cause of death of six Gangasagar pilgrims on Sunday.
Sovan claims no stampede, pilgrims say volunteer’s baton caused panic
The Mamata Banerjee government has yet again locked horns with Narendra Modi, this time over the cause of death of six Gangasagar pilgrims on Sunday.
KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government has yet again locked horns with Narendra Modi, this time over the cause of death of six Gangasagar pilgrims on Sunday.
The government has taken strong exception to a recent tweet from the PMO, announcing compensation for the kin of the Gangasagar victims, who died in a “stampede”. Without taking the PM head-on, like in notebandi protest, chief minister Mamata Banerjee marshalled her cabinet colleagues—from Sovan Chatterjee to Manturam Pakhira—to contest the PMO claim.
“There was no stampede. The pilgrims died a natural death due to extreme cold conditions and age-related ailments,” mayor Sovan Chatterjee said at a newsmeet on Monday.
Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi steered clear of the Gangasagar controversy, not mentioning anything about the reason behind the deaths. Tripathi, who recently invited the Trinamool wrath for advising the state to maintain law and order following attacks on the state BJP headquarters after Sudip Bandopadhyay’s arrest, only expressed “heartfelt condolences over the loss of lives of pilgrims in the Sagar Islands in South 24-Parganas”.
Pilgrims, who returned to Kolkata on Monday, however, have their own account. They claimed the cops, originally posted at Gate 5 on Sagar Island’s Kachuberia, which was used by lakhs of pilgrims, were suddenly sent to a VIP gate; that left the mass exit points unsupervised, at the mercy of volunteers. The witnesses claimed a civic volunteer used a baton to control the crowd, causing panic that led to the stampede, in which six pilgrims were killed and 10 injured.
Sahu Sutradhar, along with his mother Padmini (51), reached Gate 5 at Kachuberia from Kapil Muni Ashram in Gangasagar around 1.30pm on Sunday to cross over to Lot 8 at Kakdwip, en route Kolkata. Though a strong police force was present when the two arrived, the cops began leaving for the VIP gate around 3pm. Even as the police count dipped, the crowd swelled, causing jostling. “Things got worse as the pilgrims were left at the mercy of civic volunteers. Due to low tide, ferry services were shut in the morning. When the services resumed, there was a rush for vessels. When a volunteer used a baton to control the crowd, it led to panic. As the crowd lurched, many, including my mother, tripped and fell,” said Sutradhar.
Raj Ranjan Singh, who could not locate his parents Lilawati Devi (62) and Udai Pratap Singh (65), too claimed the use of a baton by a civic volunteer led to the stampede.
The police, however, denied the claim. The mayor also denied a stampede. “It is quite unfortunate the PMO has made such a claim in its official tweet without verifying facts. They should have got in touch with the CMO. This is not the first time. The Centre is bypassing the state. This is unfortunate, unethical and undesirable. It goes against the federal framework,” Chatterjee said.
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