Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari travelled across four Bengal districts on Tuesday to meet the families of six people killed in the Chorebagan pandal stampede and hand over compensation cheques, days after 19 people died during Durga Puja festivities in north Calcutta.
The victims died at the Chorebagan Sarbajanin Durgotsav Samiti pandal on the evening of October 17. Eighteen of those killed were from Bengal and one was from Bihar. The state government has announced compensation of ₹25 lakh for the next of kin of each victim.
Adhikari first visited the homes of Sandip Bej and Tagor Bej in Madhabdihi village in East Burdwan. He later met the families of Piyali Pramanik in Arambagh in Hooghly, Arati Sarkar in Chakdah in Nadia, Sreeparna Poddar in Baidyabati in Hooghly and Akriti Kumar in Bally, Howrah.
The chief minister said the visits were part of his responsibility towards the bereaved families. “I can’t bring back those who have died, but I have to fulfil my responsibility towards the families,” he said, according to the report. He added that he planned to complete visits to all 18 Bengal-based victims’ families by October 24.
The visits came amid criticism over alleged mismanagement and police failure at the pandal. Opposition leaders also alleged that BJP leaders had attempted to take control of Puja committees. CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said the government was attempting to contain the political fallout from the deaths. These allegations and political responses were not independently established in the supplied report.
Adhikari said the government had acted promptly to establish an inquiry committee to identify those responsible and initiate action. He also said the inquiry would be conducted either by a sitting judge or by a person nominated by the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. The chief minister claimed that bereaved families would not need to approach courts for a judicial inquiry or a CBI investigation.
The government’s response has combined direct financial assistance with an official investigation into the incident. The compensation package is intended for the next of kin, while the inquiry is expected to examine responsibility for the deaths. The supplied report did not provide details about the committee’s membership, its terms of reference or a deadline for submitting its findings.
The stampede has also altered the public schedule of the ruling party and the state administration during the festival. Union home minister Amit Shah, who reached Bengal on the day of the incident, cancelled his scheduled visits to Puja pandals, while Adhikari postponed his own Puja-related engagements and focused on meeting victims’ families.
The next stated milestones are the chief minister’s planned visits to the remaining families by October 24 and the inquiry into the circumstances that led to the 19 deaths at the Chorebagan pandal.
