Muzaffarpur boat mishap: A long-demanded bridge could have averted tragedy

PATNA: Govinder Sahani, in his early 20s, is inconsolable. On Thursday morning, he had seen off his brother, 17-year-old Pintu, to school. A few hours later, he was busy looking for his body.

Pintu is among the 12 people, including six girl students, who are still missing after a small boat capsized in the swollen Bagmati river in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar Thursday morning.

At least 18 people swam to safety, the district administration said.

As of late on Thursday evening, 12 persons including children were missing.

“Pintu saved two persons, but when he again went in to the river to pull others (out), he was swept (away) by the strong current. The boat had students of class nine and 10 and some local people from Bhatgama village who were going to buy things to Benibad (village) across the river,” Sahani said.

The tragedy was waiting to happen, locals said, because of the risk involved in operating rickety boats across the Bagmati river, which originates in Nepal, near the stretch where the boat sank on Thursday.

At any given time,operating boats on that stretch of the river is risky given the way it is done: A rope is tied at both banks of the river, 50 metres wide, and boats are then pulled along with the rope by people who want to cross.

On Thursday, the rope broke.

For the villagers of Bhatgama, the latest tragedy revived memories of the 2002 boat mishap when five members of a family similarly drowned.

Bhatgama village, with a population of nearly 2,000, relies for its daily needs on Benibad village, which falls under the Gaighat assembly seat of Muzaffarpur district and is located 40 kms from Muzaffarpur town.

Angry locals blamed Thursday’s mishap on the absence of a bridge on Bagmati river.

“The mishap was waiting to happen. Population is dense on both sides of the river but they (politicians) come only at the time of elections. We have been demanding the bridge for the last 20-22 years,” said Madhusudan Mahto and Chimniya Devi, residents of Bhatgama village.

Shakuntala Singh, another local, said children from Bhatgama village go to school by crossing the river by boat as that’s the only option available in the neighbourhood.

The risk increases when the river is in spate during the monsoons.

“When it rains, the river is in spate and plying boats is not easy. It becomes more difficult if it is packed (with people). Everyone knows it (the difficulties) but now the government will announce compensation and forget (the accident),” he said.

The only school nearby, the Balaur high school, is on the other side of river. “Though there is a bridge 1.5 km away from the site of the accident, crossing by boat saves time,” said a villager, asking not to be named.

The Gayghat MLA, Niranjan Roy of the RJD, who visited the site of the accident, said a bridge over Bagmati has been an old demand of the people and he had raised it several times.

“Gayghat constituency has three-four rivers. There is a bridge some distance away, but people avoid it to save time. It is an unfortunate incident,” he said.