Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has ordered an inquiry into the Sunday’s stampede and also announced an ex-gratia payment of `5 lakhs each to the kin of the deceased and `2 lakhs each to those seriously injured. Chairman, Revenue Board, will probe the incident and submit the report to him.
Two senior ministers, Balram Yadav and Durga Yadav, along with chief secretary and DGP, also reached Allahabad to get first hand information about the incident.
Some local NGOs have sent in their volunteers who are helping the injured persons in the hospitals. These volunteers are also making arrangements for the kin of the deceased persons to take back their bodies. Some of the dead are likely to be cremated here later in the day.
Allahabad district magistrate Raj Shekhar said that all possible help and treatment was being provided to injured persons.
MLN Medical College principal S.P. Singh said seven out of 13 critically injured persons who were earlier admitted at railway hospital were being shifted to SRN hospital.
Meanwhile, UP urban development minister Azam Khan on Monday resigned as head of the Kumbh Mela Committee, owning moral responsibility for the stampede at the railway station on Sunday night.
Mr Khan said that though the incident took place outside the Mela township, he wanted to take moral responsibility for the incident and had sent his resignation to the chief minister.
There was no response to Mr Khan’s resignation form the chief minister’s office as yet.