Kolkata, Feb 14 (PTI) Desh Banchao Ganamanch on Friday urged the Uttar Pradesh government to issue death certificates to the families of six West Bengal citizens who died in the Kumbh stampede, criticising the Yogi Adityanath government for allegedly not showing concern and demanding a probe into the January 29 incident.

"According to the West Bengal government, six people from the state died and six others went missing in the stampede. But the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has not given any update about the status of the six missing pilgrims, possibly to keep the death toll within 30 and to avoid giving compensation to the kin of victims," former West Bengal minister and Desh Banchao functionary Purnendu Basu told reporters.

At least 30 people were killed and 60 injured in a pre-dawn stampede at the Sangam area of Maha Kumbh on January 29 as millions of pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, one of the most auspicious days of the Hindu calendar.

"We demand the UP government issue death certificates for each of the stampede victims, give compensation to their families and revise the death toll. We demand a high-level probe into the incident," he said.

Asked if the forum has established any communication with the UP government , Basu said, "Despite repeated attempts by the state, the families and voluntary organisations, the UP government has not come up with any updates in the last fortnight." Desh Banchao Ganamanch is a platform of civil society members opposed to BJP-RSS policies. It actively campaigned for a 'no vote' to BJP in 2021 and 2023 and mostly includes pro-Trinamool figures, sympathisers, and individuals. The platform had also campaigned against the Centre's crackdown on farmers in Delhi and Haryana in 2022.

"When lakhs of devout Hindus visit a place driven by faith, it is the duty of the state concerned to make proper arrangements for them, but they are exposed to a situation having no arrangement to control such a huge crowd for days, especially during particular days. Everything is arranged for the VIPs, and the millions of devotees are pushed, shoved, trampled," he claimed.

One of the victim's families, Surajit Poddar from Netajinagar colony in Tollygunge, said, "My elderly mother, Basanti Poddar, was taken to a hospital one-and-a-half hours after being traced lying on the road on January 29, but my family members and I could manage to get only one chit with the mere information about her death scribbled on it." Her post-mortem was conducted at a Kolkata hospital on January 31, but without any proper death certificate from the UP administration, our family is faced with a piquant situation, Poddar added.

Narrating similar experiences, Sarmila Ruidas, wife of stampede victim Bisnu, said, "My husband, brother-in-law Binod, and sister-in-law went to Prayagraj in the last week of January to take the holy dip, but Bisnu Ruidas fell to the ground during the stampede and was found gasping after hours by those accompanying him." "Even though as he was taken to the hospital by his kin, he was declared dead. But despite much effort, neither a post mortem could be conducted on him, nor any death certificate issued." "Ruidas' body was escorted by a UP police constable to Jamuria and had to be cremated after a post mortem at a hospital in Paschim Bardhaman at the initiative of the Paschim Bardhaman administration, sans any proper death certificate," Sarmila added.

Singer Saikat Mitra, who was present at the press meet, told PTI, "The experiences shared by these people are shocking. This should not happen in a country like India, where lakhs congregate at a place united by faith and spiritualism. But the authorities fail them in every way." PTI SUS MNB

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