Condoling the death of devotees in a stampede in Varanasi, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for those injured besides providing free treatment to all those undergoing treatment in hospitals.
Yadav also directed Commissioner of Varanasi division to set up a magisterial enquiry into the tragedy so that those responsible for the incident could be punished.
Earlier ADG (law and order) Daljeet Singh Chaudhary said that the incident took place as people were brought for the camp in large numbers whereas the permission was for a limited number of people.
"One person died of suffocation because of the surging crowd on the narrow bridge. This led to rumours resulting in the stampede," Choudhary said and suspected that the number of casualties could go up. Additional police force has now been rushed to the spot to avert any further exigency.
Meanwhile an official communiqué of the Government confirmed that the families of those killed in the stampede in Varanasi will also get Rs 5 lakh addition to the compensation, if they were entitled for insurance claim under ``Samajwadi Kisan and Sarvhit Yojna’ . Besides those injured would get a relief of Rs 2.5 lakh for treatment or artificial limbs in case of any disability under the above mentioned insurance scheme.