Kolkata, Oct 24 West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday said around 66,000 Durga Puja celebrations across the state passed off peacefully, barring the stampede at Kolkata’s Chorbagan pandal that claimed 19 lives, and stressed the need to learn lessons from the tragedy.
“Other than the Chorbagan incident, all 66,000 pujas were organised well. Even the immersion passed off without any incident. Every year, several incidents used to take place, but this year there were not many. It would have been better if this tragedy had not happened. Now, we must learn from it and be more cautious,” Adhikari said.
The chief minister said the state government would hold an administrative meeting before Kali Puja to review the situation and take steps to prevent similar incidents.
Adhikari made the remarks after visiting the families of two victims of the Chorbagan stampede, Sneha Bhandari in Bakrahat in South 24 Parganas district and Bikash Bhattacharya in Salkia in Howrah district.
He paid floral tributes to their portraits and handed over financial assistance on behalf of the government.
The visits took his outreach to the 15th bereaved family, he said.
“There can be no compensation for such an irreparable loss. But it is our responsibility to stand beside the families in this difficult time. We have provided financial assistance and will continue to support them,” he said.
The chief minister also announced that the wife of one of the victims would be provided employment and would join in December.
Referring to the 2017 Gangasagar Mela tragedy, in which 17 people died in a stampede following the collapse of a jetty, Adhikari said people were aware of how the government of the day had responded to the incident.
“I do not want to take credit for what we are doing. People are watching everything and will judge for themselves. They know the difference between the response then and now,” he said.
Nineteen people were killed and 25 injured in a stampede in Chorbagan pandal on October 17.
(PTI News)
