‘Left with pain of a lifetime’: A year after Vadodara boat tragedy, kin of victims reunite at accident site, demand justice

The couple was among the grief-stricken families of 14 persons, including 12 children and two school teachers, who died in the Harni boat capsize on January 18, 2024.

On Saturday, not a single eye was dry as the kin gathered at the now-sealed Lake Zone for a candle-light tribute to mark one year since the tragedy.

Sarla Shinde and her husband have a tattoo of her daughter Roshni on their wrist and forearm. (Express Image)

“Those who were involved in setting up this Lake Zone are roaming free and the school has been running as if nothing happened. I had sent my daughter based on my faith in the school but I did not know that it could leave me with pain for a lifetime,” Sarla tells The Indian Express.

“There is not a moment when we do not remember her… We have been running from pillar to post for justice but our tears and pain are our own. None of those in high positions have any compassion or even the conscience to speak up the truth,” she adds.

At the Lake Zone, parents and relatives of the 12 children broke down as they clutched the grille and stared at the green still waters where the horrific scenes of the overloaded motorboat capsizing played out last year.

Parents and relatives of the 12 victims of the boat tragedy broke down at the Lake Zone. (Express Image)

On Saturday morning, the families began the day with a protest outside the New Sunrise School, demanding action against the management. Later, they met the VMC Commissioner, Dilip Rana, urging that penal action should be initiated against the officers found guilty of neglecting duty and lapses that led to the tragedy.

BJP Corporator of Ward 15, Ashish Joshi, who has been leading the agitations of the families and joined the daylong protest, says, “It has been a year since the families have been grieving. I can say for certain that their pain cannot be reduced by any amount of compensation… We want the contractors, officers and whoever is involved in the scams in the name of the Public-Private-Partnership model to be given strict punishment.”

Those who are responsible for this tragedy cannot bring back our children but they need to be punished, say the family members of the victims. (Express Image)

He further adds, “We have asked the Municipal Commissioner that now that he has acknowledged that there was a lapse on part of the VMC by the then officers and even initiated action against the officers found guilty, he should press a second FIR against the officers responsible so that we know that he is indeed on the side of what is right. We will not back down from our fight until justice is delivered.”

Says the mother of another 8-year-old victim, “We live for our children. We have lost a son and are fighting for justice. Those who are responsible for this tragedy cannot bring back our children but they need to be punished. In the last one year, we have knocked at all possible doors but there is no progress and there seems to be no justice as not all the accused have been booked. Besides, those who were arrested are free again.”

Status of the case

The Vadodara Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed to investigate the Harni boat capsize, based on the complaint filed by Executive Engineer Rajesh Chauhan of the Futuristic Cell of the VMC, had arrested a total of 20 accused in the case. The arrested persons included Binit Kotia of M/s Kotia Projects as well as Paresh Shah, who allegedly oversaw the day-to-day running of the lake zone. The other partners of M/s Kotia Projects, including Paresh Shah’s wife Nutan, son Vatsal and daughter Vaishakhi, former VMC town planning officer Gopaldas Shah, Jatin Doshi and his two daughters-in-law Tejal Doshi and Neha Doshi, Dharmin Bhatani, Dipen Shah, Dharmil Shah, Bhimsinh Yadav, Vedprakash Yadav and Rashmikant Prajapati were also arrested in the case. Nilesh Jain of Dolphin Entertainment, who had been subcontracted to run the boating facility and rides as well as Alpesh Bhatt of Tristar, who owned the boats and previously ran the recreation facility, along with Lake Zone Manager Shantilal Solanki, and boatmen Nayan Gohil and Ankit Vasava were also among the 20 arrested persons in the case. All are out on bail.

On July 3, nearly six months after the Harni boat capsize killed 14, the Gujarat High Court bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi directed the state government to submit the report of the “disciplinary action, so initiated against erstwhile Municipal Commissioners of Vadodara Municipal Corporation — HS Patel and Vinod Rao — by bringing the inquiry to a “logical conclusion” by adopting due procedure of law.”

The HC gave a “tentative opinion” that “both” the erstwhile Municipal Commissioners of VMC – Patel and Rao – were “guilty of dereliction of duty and misuse of their position” in relation to grant of contract to Kotia Projects for development of Harni lake in 2015-16. The court took a “strong exception” to the report of the Fact Finding Committee headed by principal secretary of the urban development department, Ashwani Kumar, and observed that “it seemed to the Court that the Fact Finding Committee is trying to cover up the illegality committed in the matter of grant of contract to M/s Kotia Projects”.

In its inquiry report, the Fact Finding Committee had recorded that the entire process with respect to granting the contract to Kotia Projects in the second attempt, after the company failed to qualify in the first attempt, and that the commissioner endorses what is put before him by the technical team, “is what is generally followed at VMC as also similar to what is followed in other urban local bodies and, therefore, no fault can be found in the process.”

The court said, “The proposal submitted by the then Municipal Commissioner Dr Vinod R Rao to qualify M/s. Kotia Projects as successful bidder to the Standing Committee on 23.09.2016, thus, suffers from grave illegality. As to how the proposal was approved by the Standing Committee in its Resolution…dated 08.09.2016 and the General Body vide Resolution…dated 12.09.2016, is a question which raises eyebrows. At least, we can observe that the Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, Government of Gujarat is required to take a serious view of the manner of working of the Standing Committee and the General Body of the Corporation, which is now in charge of the affairs of the Corporation. No such instance should be repeated,” the order further observed.

Patel was the commissioner when the bids were submitted both times – during the first call for expression of interest (EOI) when Kotia Projects had placed its bid and was disqualified and subsequently, the first bid of EOI failing as well as the second round of EOI when Kotia Projects had again bid for the project. Rao was the commissioner when Kotia Projects’ bid was evaluated and subsequently forwarded to the standing committee and general body for approval.

In September last year, the three judge bench of the Supreme Court, while hearing a petition filed by Rao challenging the July 3 order of the Gujarat HC, which directed the state government to initiate disciplinary action, had declined to “stultify” the enquiry but also given Rao relief and clarified that the officer appointed by the state government to conduct the disciplinary enquiry should be “uninfluenced” by the observations made by the Gujarat HC in the said order of July 3.

The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), in February 2024, issued notices to six officials, including Chauhan and three others from its futuristic planning cell that awarded the work order to M/s Kotia Projects as well as east and north zone officials. In July, the General Administration Department of the VMC moved a proposal before the General Board to decide on punitive action to be initiated against Executive Engineer of the Futuristic Cell, Chauhan, who has been found “guilty” in the disciplinary inquiry initiated against him in the case of the boat mishap. Recently, as part of the penalty imposed on Chauhan — who retired from service in August last year — it has been decided to deduct Rs 5,000 per month from his retirement pension.