Patna: First Ravana went up in flames and then the joy of the of people who had gathered at the sprawling Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Friday evening in large numbers to watch the burning of the effigy of demon king to mark Dusshera festival which marks the victory of good over evil.
The stampede that followed shortly after burning of effigy of Ravana left at least 33 dead and around a hundred severely wounded, causing a deep scar in the life of the masses who had gathered with their near and dear ones to celebrate the occasion.
Police rescue a child from the stampede site. PTI
The government which never looked virtually existing on the ground in the past four months has now ordered an investigation into the entire incident but one thing is clear that the state government has not learnt any lessons from its past mistakes. The general complaint is that the government machineries have been found lacking in crowd management each time the big events are organised.
Although Gandhi Maidan, which has the capacity to accommodate around 4.5-5 lakh people, was filled to the brim, only three gates out of its total nine had been kept in use by the local administration whereas the rest were locked. Of the three, only one gate had been left for the use of the common masses whereas the remaining two were strictly reserved for the chief minister, ministers, top leaders, bureaucrats and police officials.
So finally when stampede took place triggered by a rumour that a live wire has fallen on the ground, the people started fleeing the scene from a single exit/entry gate out of panic which could not have allowed more than three people at a time to make go out. The sudden rush at the main gate eventually saw at least 33 people, majority of them children and women, crushed to death under the feet of the panicky mob trying to make their way out to escape death from live wire which was not.
This was the second time in quick succession that the rumour about the fall of live wire on the ground had led to such a huge number of death. A similar incident had occurred in November 2012 in Patna during the Chhath festival when the rumour about the falling of live wire had triggered similar stampede at the Adalat Gnaj ghat along the bank of the Ganges, leaving at least 17 dead.
The stark similarities in both the incidents have now forced the people in the state government to suspect a big conspiracy behind the incident. "There seems to be a big conspiracy behind the incident and only a thorough probe will bring out the truth," Bihar’s public health and engineering minister Mahachandra Prasad told newsmen in Patna on Saturday.
However, the opposition parties and even the partners in powers blame the government’s "poor crowd management" behind the incident. "Stampede is nothing new during the major events in the country but here in the case, it seems the state authorities had a very poor knowledge of crowd management. The incident is an outcome of sheer administrative failures," said RJD spokesman Manoj Jha. Jha whose RJD has lent unconditional support to the ruling Manjhi government in Bihar is of the opinion that the state government should never organise big events until and unless it makes full-proof steps for crowd managements.
The inside story behind the latest stampede is that the most of the senior officials were busy attending the birthday party of Patna district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma’s son at the nearby Hotel Maurya which is barely minutes away from the Gandhi Maidan, a top source in the state government revealed. Thus while the senior officials were enjoying "drinks" in the luxury hotel, the responsibility to manage crowd and maintain peace had been left to junior officials. So by the time, the senior officials came into action, many were already dead. Verma comes from the Kurmi caste—the caste of former chief minister Nitish Kumar who is said to be the de facto chief minister of Bihar.
No less shocking is said to be the role of the chief minister. It is said the chief minister who was present at the Gandhi Maidan to watch the "Ravan Badh" function left for his native village in Gaya right when the report of the stampede had already came in the media. He stayed at his village till 10 pm at night and left for Patna only when the tragedy had turned bigger. He reached only to defend his state machinery and announce ex-gratia money of Rs 3 lakh for the kin of the deceased.
The general refrain in state political circles is that governance which was once of the USP of the NDA government has been the big casualty under the present Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi who has a sudden fad for courting controversies. In the past four months since he took reins of the state after his immediate predecessor resigned owning moral responsibility for party’s disastrous performances in recent LS polls, just everything seems to have gone haywire in Bihar.
The reason behind is very clear. Manjhi has gone on routinely saying that his tenure is only 10 months. He has got the throne as a stop-gap arrangement. The very message has apparently forced the authorities to take no interest in the present government, thus leading to a virtual doom.
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