Kolkata stampede updates: Seven held, curbs imposed, injured moved to Apollo

• Kolkata Police imposed Section 163 restrictions in parts of Bowbazar until October 20, effectively closing scores of puja pandals after the stampede killed 19, including four minors and 13 women.

• Seven people were arrested, but the Opposition demanded accountability from the committee’s top BJP-linked members; Adhikari accepted government responsibility and announced an end to VIP queues.

• Most injured were shifted to Apollo Hospital with government-funded treatment; compensation for bereaved families rose to Rs 25 lakh plus a government job, amid criticism of knee-jerk measures.

Following the death of at least 19 devotees in Saturday’s stampede at a puja pandal, Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand signed to impose prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS in parts of the Bowbazar area for three days, from 18 October to 20 October, to prevent breach of peace.

It bans the assembly of five or more individuals and the possession of lathis. The unprecedented order has practically shut down scores of puja pandals in the Bowbazar-College Street area. Prohibitory orders during Durga Puja in the city has been unheard of.

The Kolkata Police shared a list of deceased people. Out of the 19 declared dead, four are minors, and 13 are women. Most of the 25 injured persons were shifted early on Sunday morning to Apollo Hospital from the Government Medical College.

Interns and junior doctors at the Medical College, recalled that “Cards were made, papers were ready, we had started treatment for the injured; but we got word from the top officials that families of patients should be given an option if they wanted to take their injured family members to private hospitals like Apollo. They were to be assured that their medical expenses would be borne by the government.”

Meanwhile, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, who had announced a compensation of Rupees two lakhs to the kin of the deceased last night, has increased the amount to Rs 25 lakhs in addition to a Group ‘D’ employment to one of the family members.

While Chief Minister Adhikari’s nephew Devadeep Adhikari, BJP MLA Bijay Ojha and a BJP leader Tamaghna Ghosh, the three top members of the Chorbagan Puja Committee, are yet to make a public statement on the tragedy, the Opposition are baying for accountability and their arrest. Seven other persons, however, have been arrested in connection with the stampede.

They are Raj Kumar Sewda, Secretary, Santanu Dubey, Vice President, Biplab Mukherjee who was engaged in construction of the bamboo structure), Koushik Saha, engaged in crowd control and checking of VIP Pass, Pintu Dey, Suman Chakraborty and Rajesh Pal, both employees of a private security agency.

There has never been a single fatal stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata before Saturday’s stampede at the Chorbagan incident. The closest prior event was a 2015 near-stampede at Deshapriya Park, where half a million people were said to have rushed to see an 88-foot idol, reportedly the world’s tallest Durga idol.

About 11 people were injured, but there were no deaths. Kolkata Police had then shut down the puja and draped the idol to avoid another stampede which looked likely.

The political opposition have been quick to criticise the alleged ineptitude of the BJP Government and the knee-jerk reaction. Wiser after the stampede, a somewhat chastened Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Sunday, “such incidents can sometimes happen. But as a government we take responsibility for it and let us not play blame games and criticise, co-operate instead for rescue and relief. Let us not politicise this…if needed there will be restricted access to Durga Pujas. There will be no VIP or other special lines for visiting pujas,” he said.

While Adhikari tried to blame the previous government, people have been quick to point out that not a single death had been reported in the city during 34 years of Left Front rule and the 15 years when TMC was in power. Reacting to the chief minister’s appeal against politicising the tragedy, people recalled prime minister Modi’s tweet after a section of the flyover collapsed in the city, stating that it was God’s message to rid Bengal of the TMC-rule. People quipped that it seemed BJP believes that it was only the prerogative of the BJP to politicise tragedies.

It has also been pointed out that knee-jerk reactions have characterised actions by the five-months old BJP government in the state. After a building collapsed at Taratala due to design defects, all construction activities were stopped for three months. Following the fire that gutted a guesthouse/hotel on the Free school street, all Guest Houses were shut down. The IT systems of municipalities were down for almost a month after the BJP government came to power.