New Delhi: Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya on Sunday blamed the Uttar Pradesh government for the stampede in Varanasi, saying it failed to take lessons from similar mishaps in the state earlier and demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.
“The state government has to take complete responsibility for the incident. It is a total failure on its part. The state government has not learned any lessons from the previous stampedes that occurred in 2010 at Pratapgarh in which 63 people died and during 2013 Kumbh Mela in Allahabad which claimed 36 lives,” Dattatreya said after meeting the injured here.
“The state government cannot wash off its hands by suspending few police officials from the duty,” he said and demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident besides fixing of responsibility.
The Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Labour and Employment, who met the people injured in the stampede, said he has asked the hospital authorities to extend the best treatment to the patients.
He said he will take up the matter with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for immediate action on the report of the UP government.
24 people were killed and 50 injured in the stampede on an overcrowded Rajghat bridge on the border of Varanasi and Chandauli when followers of a religious leader were crossing it to attend a congregation on Saturday afternoon.