East Midnapore (West Bengal) [India], October 25 : West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday visited the family of Kalpana Jana, who died in the Chorabagan Durga Puja pandal stampede that claimed 19 lives, and handed over financial assistance to the bereaved family.
Speaking to the media, after meeting the family, Adhikari said that he had completed visits to the homes of all 17 people who lost their lives in the incident.
Speaking to the media after meeting the family, Adhikari said he had completed visits to the homes of all 17 victims from West Bengal who lost their lives in the incident, adding that arrangements had been made to extend assistance to the remaining two families in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
"17 men from West Bengal lost their lives. Today, I have completed visits to the homes of all 17 of them. The remaining two cases are in Muzaffarpur; I am sending Umesh Rai, a Minister of State in the West Bengal government, there with the compensation amount," Adhikari said.
The Chief Minister also visited the family of Bikas Bhattacharya, another victim of the stampede, in Howrah. During the visit, he handed over a cheque of Rs 25 lakh to the deceased's family as financial assistance.
Adhikari emphasised the government's responsibility to stand by the bereaved families during their difficult time, acknowledging that financial assistance could not compensate for the loss of their loved ones.
He assured the affected families of the government's support and said efforts would be made to assist them in every possible way following the tragedy.
The stampede occurred on October 17 at the Chorabagan Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata, claiming 19 lives and leaving several others injured. The incident triggered concerns over crowd management and safety arrangements at large public gatherings during religious festivities.
Earlier, on October 21, the West Bengal government, in consultation with the Calcutta High Court, constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the stampede and recommend measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The high-level committee was constituted to conduct a comprehensive examination of the incident, establish the circumstances that led to the loss of lives and suggest steps to strengthen crowd management and public safety arrangements.
The probe committee is chaired by Justice (Retd.) Anindita Roy Saraswati. Its members include the Principal Secretary of the Disaster Management and Civil Defence Department of the West Bengal government and the Director General and Inspector General of Police for the Special Task Force (STF), West Bengal.
The panel also includes a representative of the Director General and Inspector General of Police, not below the rank of Additional Director General, and a representative of the Home and Hill Affairs Department, not below the rank of Joint Secretary.
In addition, a representative of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), based in Kolkata, is part of the committee.
According to the official government notification, the SIT has been directed to conduct a detailed review of the incident and submit its final report to the state government within three months from the date of issuance of the order.