Senior police officers inspect the spot of stampede at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on October 3 night. Telegraph picture

Patna, Nov. 30: The state government is gearing up to issue showcause notices to the then heads of the four wings of administration in Patna for their cumulative lapses in the Gandhi Maidan stampede in which 33 persons died and 30 others suffered injuries.

A source in the state bureaucracy said notices would be served on then heads of the Patna district administration, police, traffic management authority and the municipal corporation — in a day or two. “The list of the erring officials has been prepared after consultation with chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi,” the source claimed.

The two-member team probing the stampede at Gandhi Maidan after Ravan Vadh on October 3 handed over its detailed report to the government on Friday, indicting all the four agencies. Home principal secretary Amir Subhani headed the probe panel.

Additional director-general (headquarters) Gupteshwar Pandey was the other member of the panel set up by the government to ascertain the reasons and fix the accountability of the erring public servants.

Subhani today said: “It is up to the government to take action against the erring officials. The action will be taken within the procedure laid down in the service rules of the officials concerned. So, the government will first seek explanation from them and then initiate action.”

Manjhi had earlier called the two members of the inquiry committee and enquired about the reasons behind the tragedy and lapses on the part of the officials. Sources claimed that Manjhi summoned both Subhani and Pandey as the report had not mentioned about any particular public servant, who could be held accountable.

While Manish Kumar Verma was posted as the district magistrate, Manu Maharaaj was the senior superintendent of police at the time the tragedy struck. Prantosh Kumar Das happened to be superintendent of police (traffic) and Kuldip Narayan was assigned to look after the municipal corporation.

Barring the traffic police and municipal corporation heads, the state government had removed all the top district officials of Patna after the stampede.

The probe committee in its report has recommended strict action—-both administrative and disciplinary—-against the officials found responsible for the tragedy. “The stampede was the result of collective failure and not any person,” Subhani said, elaborating on the reasons prompting the tragic incident.

The committee did not disclose any name but made it clear that it was the collective responsibility of the district administration, police, municipal corporation and the traffic police to make adequate arrangements for such a big celebration in the heart of the city.

“During our probe, we found several deficiencies in the arrangements, due to which the stampede could not be checked. After paying attention to all aspects of the incident we found that the district administration, district police administration, Patna municipal corporation and the traffic police were responsible for it,” Subhani said.

The committee also expressed its strong displeasure over several magistrates missing from the spot after the incident.

“Some of the magistrates deployed at the Maidan were missing despite they being inadequate in number to handle the situation. Similarly, there was no crowd management plan to facilitate the crowd exit through the gates after the celebrations,” the panel observed.