Amid a clamour by the Opposition for a two-day special session of the State Legislature and an inquiry by a retired judge to fix responsibility for the Kharghar heatstroke deaths, the Maharashtra government on Thursday set up a one-member committee headed by a senior bureaucrat to look into the circumstances leading to the death of 14 persons after the “Maharashtra Bhushan award” ceremony on April 16.
After the State Congress and NCP – both the constituents of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) - wrote separately to Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais seeking a special session of the State Legislature and setting of a judicial probe to fix responsibility for the deaths, chief minister Eknath Shinde took to twitter to announce setting up of a one-member committee headed by an Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) to probe the 14 purported heatstroke deaths at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai. Shinde said that the Additional chief secretary-headed committee would among other things look into the cause of the deaths and make recommendations to the state government on how to prevent such mishaps in future. The committee had been set a deadline of one month to submit its report to the state government.
The mishap took April 16 when at least 14 persons succumbed to heatstroke and dehydration and scores of others were hospitalised immediately after a public function organised at an open ground at Kharghar to honour the ‘Maharashtra Bhushan-2022’ Award to Dattatreya Narayan Dharmadhikari. Union Home Minister Amit Shah conferred the honour on social Appasaheb Dharmadhikari.
Held in the scorching heat, the public function began at 11 am and lasted for more than three hours. The temperature that prevailed at the ground at that time was 42 degrees C. There are conflicting versions about the circumstances leading to so many deaths. While one version is that 14 disciples of Appasaheb Dharmadhikari died to heatstroke and dehydration, some eyewitnesses have attributed the deaths to a stampede that reportedly took place at the end of the function when the crowds were dispersing from the open ground. In all, nearly seven lakh followers of Appasaheb Dharmadhikari had turned out for the award ceremony.
In a letter written to the Governor, former Deputy Chief Minister and current leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar of the NCP demanded that a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murders against those in the state government behind organising the event.
Pawar urged the Governor to appoint a retired judge to probe the lapses leading to the deaths at the Maharashtra Bhushan” Award ceremony. He also requested the Governor to ask the state government to increase the compensation being paid to the next of kin of each of the deceased in the mishap from Rs 5 to lakh to Rs 20 lakh and to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to each of persons hospitalised in the mishap.