After 11 die at Maharashtra Bhushan Award event, Uddhav and Ajit Pawar blame Govt for poor choice of time

Pawar and Thackeray, who met the patients at MGM Hospital in Kharghar around midnight, said there is no clarity on the number of people who suffered heatstroke and those who died. They added the government is trying to hide the number of casualties.

“Currently, there are eight people admitted in the MGM Hospital of which one is in critical condition. The Maharashtra Bhushan Award is a very prestigious award. Just like the Bharat Ratna, the Maharashtra Bhushan award is at the state level. But what happened during the award ceremony was out of negligent and careless behaviour. The award ceremony has got a blot due to the carelessness of the government. So far, exactly how many people have lost their lives, or are injured and discharged has not come to the fore. The numbers are being hidden,” Pawar said adding during the MVA government the data on casualties were always made public.

Pawar said when they met the patients, some of them told them they didn’t have any food and some even said that after the programme, there was a stampede due to the crowd. “The government made a mistake while choosing the time for the function at noon when it was so hot. Innocent people have lost their lives. We pay tribute to them… Had the function been held in the evening, then it would have been better. Such functions should not be organised during April and May. We don’t want to politicise the issue,” Pawar said.

After meeting the patients, Thackeray said the doctors told them that 11 people have lost their lives and two people are serious.

“In all, it looks that the timing of the event and poor management are the reasons behind the incident. I don’t know if there would be any inquiry because according to the media, Amit Shah ji had to go to and hence the event was held in the afternoon. Who would conduct an inquiry against whom? But innocent people have lost their lives. If it is true that just because Amit Shah didn’t have time and hence the event was held in the afternoon then it’s a weird thing.”

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who had visited MGM Hospital, called it a “really unfortunate and painful incident” and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the family members of those who died.