Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief and announced financial assistance after at least 19 people died and 25 were injured in a stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata on Saturday evening.
The stampede followed a crowd surge amid rain at the pandal.
“The stampede in Kolkata is extremely distressing. My thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest,” PM Modi said in a post on X.
He said the local administration was providing all possible assistance to those affected.
The Prime Minister announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each person killed and ₹50,000 for each injured person.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who arrived in Kolkata on Saturday evening for a two-day visit to West Bengal, postponed his scheduled programmes and said he would meet the injured in hospital on Sunday.
HM Shah will visit Kolkata Medical College and Hospital in the College Street area, where several injured people were receiving treatment.
After arriving in Kolkata on Saturday, HM Shah described the tragedy as “extremely heartbreaking” and said he had spoken to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
“I pray for the peace of the souls of the devotees who lost their lives in this tragedy and express my condolences to their families,” he said in a post on X.
HM Shah added that the administration was ensuring medical care for the injured.
“I will postpone all my scheduled programmes in West Bengal tomorrow and visit the hospital to meet the injured. I pray to Maa Durga for the swift recovery of all the injured,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
