Stampede: Union ministers attack Bihar government

NEW DELHI: Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan today sought to blame Bihar government over the Patna stampede incident, saying it failed to learn from the past and put in place measures to prevent the tragedy.

"It is not only an unfortunate and regrettable incident but also shameful. Dussehra festivities take place in Gandhi Maidan every year. Still no appropriate arrangements were made... recently there was an incident during Chhatt puja. There was an incident during Narendra Modi's rally in October last year," Prasad told PTI here.

He was referring to the blasts which rocked Modi's rally venue.

Prasad said while he has spoken to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, a team of NDRF has already left for Patna to assist the state administration.

The Law Minister said that the Centre will render all possible assistance to the state government to deal with the situation. Prasad and Paswan plan to visit Patna tomorrow to take stock of the situation. Both are from Bihar.

Expressing grief, Paswan attacked the JD(U) government in Bihar for allegedly failing to put in place measures to prevent the tragedy. He said similar incidents had taken place during Chhatt Puja in Bihar but the state government has "failed to learn lessons."

At least 32 people, including 27 women, were killed and 22 others injured in the stampede that took place this evening at Gandhi Maidan in Patna shortly after the Dussehra celebrations.