NEW DELHI — Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday accused the government of hiding the real death toll numbers in the Maha Kumbh stampede and demanded that punitive action be taken against those officials, whom he claimed conspired and colluded to conceal the real figures.
The stampede that broke out on Mauni Amavasya, one of the biggest Amrit Snans, resulted in the death of about 30 devotees and injury to more than 60.
Speaking in Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the government was deliberately holding back the death toll numbers and demanded that it share the entire details of Maha Kumbh including availability of doctors, medicines and other arrangements in the Parliament.
“The government is freely sharing the Budget figures but it’s not the case with Maha Kumbh. I ask them to give the real numbers of those who died in Maha Kumbh. I demand an all-party meeting to discuss and debate the tragic incident in Prayagraj,” he said.
The SP supremo further demanded that the Army should take over disaster management of the Maha Kumbh.
“The numbers for deaths, treatment of injured, availability of medicines, doctors, food, water, and transport should be presented in the Parliament,” he demanded.
The SP chief also tore into the state government over the ‘poor and inefficient’ arrangement in Prayagraj, accusing it of engaging in publicity and promotion campaigns and doing little for public safety.
He said that the truth was intentionally held back and demanded stern action for those who were part of this ‘design’.
“There should be strict punitive action for the tragedy and those responsible for hiding the truth should be punished. We ask the double-engine government, if there was no guilt, then why were the figures suppressed, hidden and erased? Erasing the truth is a crime,” he said.
Akhilesh’s fresh charge at the government comes on the back of claims by his party MPs that dead bodies were buried and flown away in the river with an intention to undermine the gravity of the disaster. –IANS