Patna: The death toll in yesterday's boat tragedy in Patna rose to 25 today, NDRF said.
More than half a dozen are still missing after the boat carrying 40 people from Sabalpur Diara en route to Gandhi Ghat in Bihar's Patna capsized yesterday.
Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the tragedy. He also announced an ex gratia from the PM's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased, and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured in the incident.
The President Pranab Mukherjee also has condoled the loss of lives due a boat accident in the Ganga River in Bihar.
In his message to Shri Ram Nath Kovind, Governor of Bihar, the President has said “I am sad to learn about the boat accident in which a number of persons have lost their lives and some are missing when a boat capsized in the Ganga River in Bihar, Patna. I understand rescue and relief operations are currently underway.
I call upon concerned authorities to provide all possible aid to the bereaved families who have lost their near and dear ones and medical assistance to the injured.
Please convey my heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased. I wish speedy recovery of the injured persons”.
Meanwhile, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has blamed Bihar state government for the boat tragedy.
"Arrangements should have been more robust, inquiry will expose loopholes and defaulters will be caught," Prasad told ANI.
Reportedly, the death toll from the tragedy is likely to increase. Separate teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) have been deputed to the site of the mishap since yesterday and rescue operations are underway.
Yesterday, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar ordered a high-level investigation into the mishap. He directed the state's principal secretary of disaster management, Pratyay Amrit, Patna DIG Shalin and Patna DM Sanjay Kumar Agrawal to rush to the site of the mishap and personally monitor the rescue operations.
The CM also announced an ex gratia to the next kin of deceased persons at the earliest. As per Bihar government guidelines, an amount of Rs 4 lakh is paid as ex gratia to the kin of persons killed in any kind of disaster.
Nitish has also asked investigating officials to find out what the event was, for which such a large number of people were traveling to that sector of the river.
He has also directed officials to find out what arrangements the organisers had taken for the travellers' safety. The Bihar CM cancelled all upcoming events to be held in that Diara area, where the mishap took place.
