SOP, heat wave advisory overruled by govt in interests of showmanship

Strap: Afternoon timing asked for by awardee Dharmadhikari, says minister

Mumbai: The death of attendees at the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony at Kharghar on Sunday was the result of the government’s refusing to follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and ignoring official advice in order to put up a show of strength, said sources in the state bureaucracy. Questions are also being raised on the attempt to cover up the casualties and why an FIR has not been registered despite over a dozen deaths. The state government has not yet officially ordered any probe or registered any case though the local administration has been directed to submit a report.

“Anticipating the heatwave and rising temperature over the last few days, the district administration was against organising the event in the afternoon,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity. “The political leadership, however, insisted on the timing and directed us to make adequate arrangements to tide over the temperature-related problems. We had also advised the government to limit the attendance to avoid crowd management-related issues. The political leadership, however, wanted it to make a grand show.”

Officials from the Raigad district collectorate said they were asked not to speak to the media or public or share any information about the tragedy. As a result of this, news of the deaths came in very late.

The official pointed to the violation of the SOP meant for such a huge gathering. “The state government only last month issued a heatwave action plan approved by a high-level committee headed by the chief secretary,” he said. “The plan directs district administrations to discourage people from venturing out between 12 pm and 3pm, which clearly indicates prohibition of any such event under the scorching sun. There are other directives such as avoiding exposure to direct sunlight and making adequate arrangements for medicines at hospitals. The Panvel municipal corporation, the Raigad district collector and CIDCO, who organised the event, should have put their foot down and told the political leadership to change the time but they didn’t.”

The action plan has identified 15 districts as highly vulnerable districts and 10 districts as moderately vulnerable. The disaster management unit of the state had issued warnings about the heatwave from April 15.

Another official from the Raigad district administration said that though there were arrangements for drinking water through taps and bottles, the organisers failed to ensure easy availability to attendees. “The water tap and bottles and even the ambulances were very far away from the attendees,” he said. “Very few got adequate water, and this led to the rush for drinking water after the event got over. It was a stampede-like situation at one point of time. Also, many attendees had reached the venue very early on Sunday. The long hours without food too must have aggravated their health condition, and many complained of health issues after reaching home.”

The office of the chief minister on Saturday had issued a statement saying that adequate arrangements had been made at the Maharashtra Bhushan ceremony venue. “Apart from 250 tankers and 2,100 taps, over 4,200 toilets, 9,000 temporary toilets and 4,000 conservancy workers have been deployed. 350 doctors, 100 nurses and 69 ambulances have been stationed at the venue,” it stated.

The state government had appointed an event management company by inviting a bid for the estimated expenditure of ₹13.63 crore. Besides this, CIDCO, the Panvel municipal corporation and the Raigad district collector spent additional money on incidental expenditure, said officials from the cultural affairs department.

School education minister Deepak Kesarkar, who belongs to the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, maintained that the heat wave was not anticipated. “We had made every arrangement from drinking water, tankers and 2.5 lakh packets of ORS,” he said. “Ambulances were arranged at the venue. We had made arrangements for drinking water through taps from as far away as seven km. The heat wave was not anticipated, as it is not a phenomenon in Konkan or Mumbai. The deaths are unfortunate but should not be politicised.”

Kesarkar said the timing of the program was adjusted according to the request of awardee Appasaheb Dharmadhikari. “It is not true that it was to suit the convenience of Union minister Amit Shah,” he said. “The minister had no problem in attending the event in the morning as well, but it was on the insistence of Dharmadhikari that it was scheduled for the afternoon.”