Sir,

It was only recently  when the city was celebrating Makar Sankranti like every year on 14th January. In the  evening, when I switched on the television, I saw in the breaking news about the boat tragedy, which happened near NIT Ghat and killed almost 20 – 25 people and many of them are still missing.

People said  that the boat was overloaded; from the actual capability of carrying 25 – 30 passengers at most, that day there were around 60 – 70 people ferried on a single boat. The witnesses said that an announcement was made that boat would not ferry people after 4 pm and this led to a chaotic situation among the people.

Also, several reasons were mentioned and some of them are-

• Security personnel did nothing to control the people
• It was an unauthorized fair, said DM of Patna in one his interviews
• Security system was not proper; no lifeguards were present on the Ghat
• Only one ambulance was available

Reviewing all the points and comments on this matter made by the newspapers and local people.

Many questions come to my mind. Why such tragedies happen during festivals only? Is there any lack of proper management system from the Government? Also, why do they  happen when people return from the festival?

If you go through the chapters of festivals in Bihar, then you will see that some or at the other festivals, a tragedy has happened. Some are listed below-

1. 20 killed when boat capsized midstream in river Ganga in Patna: 2017
2. 33 killed in a stampede during Dussehra in Patna: 2014
3. 3 killed in a stampede during Makar Sankranti in Banka district in Bihar: 2014
4. 18 killed in a stampede during Chhath Puja in Patna: 2012

These stampedes were listed among the most disastrous stampedes in India.

Here, the government needs to improve the management system so that these tragedies do not happen in the near future.

Yours Truly,

Kaveri Priyambada

CEMS, Patna Women’s College,Bailey Road, Patna – 800001

  Bihar, letters