Akhilesh lauds Mela officials

CM gives clean chit to staff after stampede

Two days after 36 people died in a stampede at Allahabad railway station, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav gave a clean chit to officials associated with the Mahakumbh fair. The chief minister even lauded the officials for their “good work.”

“The incident is unfortunate. We are doing all that we can for the injured and make sure that they do not face any difficulty. We have also hiked the compensation,” Yadav, who visited the injured at an Allahabad hospital, said on Tuesday.

“All these officials played a crucial role in making the best possible arrangements. They have burnt the midnight oil in doing so,” the chief minister said.

He also praised the hospital staff for taking “good care” of the injured. Earlier, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav defended the state government and rejected allegations that the stampede was an upshot of administrative failure. He even praised Azam Khan, who had resigned from the post of fair committee chairman after the tragedy.

“Azam Khan has done a good job,” Mulayam Singh said.

The chief minister, however, refused to comment on what caused the stampede. “Let the probe report come. We will punish the guilty officials,” he said. The administration is gearing up for the next “shahi snan” on February 15.

Both Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav decried attempts to politicise the incident. “There should not be any politics over the tragedy,” they said.