Bhubaneswar: Congress on Monday demanded the resignation of Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy CM Pravati Parida and Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan, holding them accountable for the stampede in Puri that claimed three lives and left over 50 injured.
Mounting a scathing attack on the state government, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) also demanded Rs 50 lakh ex gratia for each of the deceased devotees and Rs 25 lakh for those seriously injured.
The party termed the Rs 25 lakh ex gratia announced by the Chief Minister for the families of the deceased as insufficient.
Notably, three persons, including two women, were killed and over 50 others injured in a stampede near Shree Gundicha Temple in Odisha’s Puri early on Sunday during a ceremony related to the ongoing Rath Yatra festivities.
The incident took place around 4.20 am when thousands of devotees had gathered near the three chariots parked in front of the temple.
Describing the tragedy as a result of gross mismanagement, the OPCC has demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident led by a sitting district judge, rejecting the state government’s administrative probe headed by the development commissioner.
A fact-finding team of Congress led by former party state unit president Prasad Harichandan visited Puri on Sunday to conduct an inquiry into the stampede incident.
The team visited the spot and met the injured persons being treated at the district headquarters hospital. “The team was shocked and saddened to learn that two critically injured patientswhose legs were reportedly completely crushedhad been discharged without proper treatment,” the party said in a statement on Monday.
The team alleged that the government was making all efforts to downplay the incident while turning a blind eye to the treatment of the injured devotees, it said.
The party insisted that the judicial inquiry’s recommendations be implemented within 10 days of the Niladri Bije’ ritual, the return of the deities to the main temple, marking the conclusion of the Rath Yatra.
Meanwhile, Congress MP from Odisha, Saptagiri Ulaka, and leader Arabinda Das addressed a press conference in New Delhi on the same incident.
