After Rewards, Nitish Should Not Let Bihar Officials Behind Boat Tragedy Go Scot-Free

The festival jinx has returned to haunt Bihar, the Nitish Kumar government in particular, with the unfortunate drowning of 24 persons into the Ganga on the day of Makar Sankranti. The mishap occurred when two country-boats carrying people three times their capacity sank barely 25 metres from Sabalpur Diara, an island in the middle of the river, that has emerged as a popular picnic spot for the revellers of all hues in winter in recent years.

This is the third major tragedy to have taken place during a major festival in less than five years in the state. In 2012, 22 devotees had lost their lives in a stampede during Chhath while they were returning from the Ganga ghats after offering prayers to Sun God in the evening. A rumour about snapping of a live wire caused panic, and left them getting trampled to death.

Two years later in 2014, a bigger tragedy took place on Dussehra when 32 people were crushed to death in a similar fashion while they were on their way back home after watching the Ravan Vadh (slaying of demon king Ravan) spectacle at Gandhi Maidan in Patna.

The latest tragedy, however, could not have come at a worse time for Nitish. The state government in general and the district administration were still resting on their laurels after the successful arrangements of Prakash Utsav, organised to commemorate the 350th birth anniversary of Patna-born Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and last guru of the Sikhs, in the city of his birth, as also the Kalachakra, a mega congregation of the Buddhists led by Tibetan spiritual guru the Dalai Lama, in Bodh Gaya.

Thousands of Sikh pilgrims and others had converged in Patna to take part in the elaborate festivities lasting about a week. Right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Punjab Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his cabinet ministers to all the NRIs and other devotees who had come from distant places went back with fond memories, showering encomiums on the way Nitish oversaw the high-profile programmes which concluded on January 5.

Acknowledging the efforts of the officials of the state administration and police, the Chief minister later felicitated them in an apparent bid to encourage and motivate them to keep up the good work.

But hardly had he patted the officials when capsize of two overcrowded boats took the government and its mandarins off guard. It was a tragedy they had not apprehended so soon after the successful and incident-free Prakash Utsav celebrations. This also happened at a time when they were still receiving plaudits for helping organise Kalachakra, attended among others by Hollywood actor Richard Gere, on a grand scale in the holy town of Bodh gaya, 125 km away from Patna.

In fact, in a letter to Nitish, the Dalai Lama acknowledged Nitish’s endeavour for successful organisation of the Kalachakra. “I am writing to convey my deep gratitude to you and to your government for the personal attention and generous assistance in providing the necessary infrastructure and facilities for the two-week Kalachakra empowerment,” he wrote. “The organisational support, including the extensive and thorough security arrangements, contributed to the efficient and smooth running of this large event.”

Hailing it as a “tremendous success”, the spiritual leader said that the state government officials had devoted a great deal of time and efforts for the event, attended by 1.75 lakh people from 192 countries.

But the loss of 24 unsuspecting people, who had crossed over to the Ganga diara to have fun with family and friends soon thereafter, seemed to undo all the efforts put in by the Nitish government during the two-high-profile events. The Opposition has since accused the government as well as the Patna administration of criminal neglect towards safety and security of the people during the Makar Sankranti festivities. It alleges that the state tourism department had invited people to take part in the kite-flying ceremony on the occasion but the local administration left them to fend for themselves by not arranging for adequate number of steamers and boats to facilitate their return. Moreover, it had not imposed any bar on the plying of unlicensed and rickety boats on the fateful day.

Whatever be the reason, the Nitish government needs to take adequate steps to pre-empt recurrence of the tragedies of such magnitude in future. It has already set a high-level probe to look into the reasons and circumstances leading to the catastrophe. But mere investigations will not do. Accountability, in case of this tragedy, must be fixed and any official, if found guilty of dereliction of duty, must be punished regardless of his official position. Any official has seldom been upbraided for any such tragedy in the past.

Nitish has already set a healthy trend in the state to reward officials for their good work but it would be the next logical step if he follows it up by handing down punishment as well to the erring officials for their lapses, which resulted in snuffing the lives out of so many innocent persons.