Indore/Khandwa, Oct 3: The atmosphere was festive in tribal-dominated Padalphata village in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa, where locals danced gleefully ahead of the immersion of goddess Durga idols. But the mood soon turned sombre after 11 young residents drowned when the vehicle carrying them plunged into a lake.
The tragedy befell the village on Thursday evening, snuffing out the lives of minors, teenagers and youngsters, with the eldest victim being a 25-year-old woman and the youngest one an eight-year-old girl.
On Friday, an eerie silence prevailed in the village, housing a population of 350, with only the sound of cries and sobs piercing through.
The incident occurred when a tractor trolley, carrying idols and devotees, tilted and fell into the lake, located near the village, during the immersion of idols on Vijayadashmi at the end of the Navdurga festival.
The deceased were identified as Aarti (18), Urmila (16), Sharmila (15), Kiran (16), Patli (25), Sangeeta (16), Chanda (8), Dinesh (13), Ganesh (20), Revsingh (13) and Ayush (9).
A video has surfaced on social media showing the celebrations of villagers before the tragedy struck. It shows them dancing before the tractor trolley and throwing colours ahead of the idol immersion.
However, the picture was completely opposite on Friday.
As the funeral processions of the deceased children were taken out of their respective homes in Padalphata, their parents could not control their emotions and sobbed uncontrollably.
Talking to PTI, Sawan Dangode, a young man from the village, said, “Everyone in the village is deeply saddened by the accident because with the loss of so many children, it feels as if our future has been taken away from us. These children were the future of the village.”
But in addition to grief, there is anger among villagers against the administration.
Dangode alleged that the administration’s negligence led to the loss of 11 lives in the accident.
“People from 25 to 30 villages visit the lake to immerse the idols of goddess Durga. The accident took place there. However, the administration had not posted any government employees there to alert the devotees about the depth of the lake,” he said.
Khandwa District Magistrate Rishav Gupta said on Thursday night that villagers present at the scene had already warned the devotees that the lake was deep, but due to “over-enthusiasm”, they did not pay heed and drove the tractor trolley further into the water body, causing the vehicle to overturn and sink.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the incident on Thursday night, and said he was deeply saddened by the loss of lives. He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.
State Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also mourned the loss of lives and separately announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each for the families of the deceased. (PTI)
