All hell broke loose on Tuesday at the Eden Gardens with the Government-sponsored jamboree to celebrate the IPl victory of Shah Rukh Khan’s KKR going awry leading to a virtual stampede and causing bloody injuries to many.
Scores of people were injured even as the police repeatedly lathi-charged the thronging janta who acquired free passes from the police stations as decided by the Government earlier and jostled to get in.
Curiously more than 1.5 lakh passes were issued upon the recomendations of the local ruling party politicians ignoring the 70,000 sitting capacity of the Gardens, top administration officials said adding “any mishap could have happened and many people could have been killed.”
While the screams of the people got suppressed by the high-decibel celebrations inside State Ministers like Firhad Hakim rebuked an “over-sensitive media” for only highlighting the darker sides of the State. “Ignore some dark sides” he said without directly reacting to the causes of the mismanagement adding, “highlight the positive sides of the programme or else how will we surpass Gujarat.”
Incidentally a visibly purturbed Kolkata High Court also questioned the sense behind spending lakhs to honour private franchisees ignoring the plights of the poorest of the poor who had still been struggling to survive after the 2009 Aila storm hit Bengal.
Hearing a petition of an Aila victim who had not received compensation for the past five years, Justice Dipankar Dutta wondered as to how the Government manage funds for such gala celebrations while victims were left to languish.
In another show of insensitivity, none of the TMC functionaries were present to pay homage to departed BJP leader and former Union Minister Tapan Sikdar who passed away in Delhi on Monday.
“It is sad to note how the Chief Minister was either very busy with the celebrations or intentionally didn’t care to send a condolence message to her one-time ministerial mate,” said State BJP president Rahul Sinha.