Shocked at the death of 13 women and girls, and others injured after the slab on a well caved in during a marriage function at Nebua Naurangia area of Kushinagar on Thursday, locals were agitated with the poor health services, particularly because it took more then two hours for the ambulance to travel a distance of just 3 kilometers.
The tragic incident occurred when revellers, mostly women and girls, converged around a well and some of them stood ona slab covering it while participating in the 'haldi' ceremony late Wednesday evening, In the meantime, the slab over the well could not withstand the weight of the crowd and caved in as a result of which 11 women died on the spot while two others succumbed during treatment at a hospital. A top district administration official announced that an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh will be given to the kin of the deceased.
On Thursday, during their cremation, the locals claimed to have made at least 67 calls to the local district hospital asking for ambulance to ferry the injured but it reached only after more than two hours had elapsed. They claimed that some lives could have been saved if the victims were given timely treatment. They further said that it was only after the local police reached that they could shift the injured to the hospital. The irate local residents demanded action against the Health department and hospital officials responsible for the inordinate delay.
On Wednesday night, a huge crowd gathered at the district hospital and the employee could not even register the names and addresses of the victim. After confirmation of their deaths, all the bodies were sent to the mortuary while some of the injured were sent home after treatment at Nebua Naurangia CHC. The tragedy struck while local woimen and firls participated at the 'haldi' ceremeony of the son of Parameshwar Kushwaha of School Tola of Nebua Naurangia in Thana Kshetra, who was to get married on Thursday. In the course of the function, the women folks took part in 'matkor’ as rituals and some children also accompanied them. While they were returning through the narrow road leading to the village . On the way, there is a deep well covered with a slab and some children and women climbed on it. Suddenly the slab caved in and several of them fell into the well. Later the police reached there and got a extraction pump and drained out the water out of the well. The poilce evacuated 23 victims with the help of locals from the well.
A total of 13 critical victims were sent to the district hospital where they were declared dead upon arrival. They were later identified as Pari Chaurasia (01), Aarti Chaurasia (10), Sasikala Chaurasia (15), Pooja Yadav (15), Sundari Kushwaha (15), Jyoti Chaurasia (15), Radhika Kushwaha (16), Pooja Chaurasia (20), Meera Vishwakarma (25), Shakuntala Devi (35), and Mamta Devi (35).
Two of the deceased were yet to be identified. Taking a serious note of the matter, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed Kushinagar district administration to provide all possible help to victims. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to express his condolences. "The accident in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh is heart-wrenching. I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in this. And I wish the injured a speedy recovery. The local administration is involved in all possible help," tweeted the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninists) expressed grief over the death of 13 women and children in Naurangia village in Kushinagar, and said some of the victims could have been saved had they been rushed to nearby hospitals. The CPI (ML) demanded a probe into the case and compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to kin of the deceased.