PANJIM: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said that the police case in the Lairai Zatra Stampede case will carry on and the guilty will be punished. He also said that show cause notice will be sent to government officials who failed in their duty. He also blamed the temple committee, the district administration, village panchayat, district police and crowd behavior for the stampede. Herald Media asked people is the action promised by CM in the Lairai Zatra stampede enough?
Temple Committee is busy with its own rituals. The police are busy with looking at pickpockets and so many aspects of guiding people. What has not been covered by the statement made by the CM is that there is a lot of interference by the local politicians. Possibly MLAs of the area, where they override the safeguards suggested by the police and by Disaster Management. And this ends up in a disaster. The biggest responsibility is ours and in the case of the Lairai incident, I will put 100% blame not on any organization, because they did whatever they could. Devotees do borderline hooliganism inside..they start booing people, they pass coments. This is not expected in a religious event.
Sanjeev Sardesai Hands on Historian
I hope that there is action taken and not a mere eyewash by transferring some SP and some officers. These people should be brought to book. This was the first time that Lairai Devi zatra was made a State festival, so it is the duty of the Chief Minister to ensure that justice be given to the six lives that are lost. Many zatras occur in the state with huge crowds. I also visited the Lairai Devi Zatra a few hours prior. We took darshan in a nice manner. This tragedy should not be politicized. The CM should do a proper inquiry and action should be taken against the guilty.
Dattaprasad Naik, Independent Politician
People who have to be brought to book, should be brought to book. But before that, equally if not more, the CM of Goa should take responsibility for not taking precautionary measures well in advance and for not having well planned and for not doing disaster management in such huge events. So putting the blame on somebody else, does not help the State. It is not just one or two events where the CM has not been able to get the people who are working to take precautionary measures in many events. The blame should not stop at the grassroot level, the buck has to stop at the top.
Anthony D'Silva Social Activist