That's rich: UP broke for stampede victims

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati says her government has no money to compensate victims of the Pratapgarh stampede in which 63 people, all of them women and children, were killed and nearly 200 others injured.

Mayawati, who has spent over Rs 2,000 crore on building parks and statues of BSP leaders across Uttar Pradesh, has instead asked the Centre to help the stampede victims.

"In view of the acute financial crisis currently faced by the state, I am appealing to the Central Government to be generous in giving away decent compensation to the families of those who have lost their lives or were injured in the unfortunate stampede at the ashram run by spiritual Guru Kripaluji Maharaj in Mangarh village of Pratapgarh district," said a press statement issued by Mayawati in Lucknow on Friday night.

"However, in case the Union Government expresses its inability to pay, then we will squeeze our resources to mobilise funds for the purpose. The centre does provide the states with a Calamities Relief Fund (CRF), but that is meant to be utilised only towards natural disasters and not tragedies like this one," said Mayawati.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also added that she had asked all BSP MPs to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and seek his help for creating a central fund to meet the financial needs arising during such human tragedies.

Information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni lashed out at Mayawati for saying that state does not have money to pay compensation to the victims.

"As far as Centre is concerned, the Prime Minister will do whatever he can without anybody asking for it. As for the state it is for the people of the state and that state government to see," said Soni.

The Centre has already announced Rs 2 lakh compensation from the Prime Minister's National Relief fund for the next of kin of those who died and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured.

Meanwhile, the preliminary investigation report by the Allahabad Commissioner Ajay Kumar Upadhyaya on the ashram stampede has blamed local administration and ashram authorities for the tragedy.

The Report says the local administration did not take proper control of the situation before and after the incident.

The authorities should have deployed more staff to control entry and exit points of the temple ground as the ground was not large enough to accommodate 10,000 people who had gathered there.

The Kripalu Trust, too, did not seek permission to hold the event. The final report, to be submitted next week, is likely to recommend action against the local administration at the Sub-Divisional level.