The aftermath at the Khasa army cantonment. A Tribune photo |
Khasa (Amritsar), December 1
Two youths of this border region were killed and 10 others injured in a stampede during an Army recruitment rally. Over 10,000 youths had gathered for the rally here today morning.
Dalbir Singh, one of the candidates, who escaped death by a whisker, said the incident occurred when the Army authorities opened the small gate of the venue at 5.15 am and asked the candidates near the gate to sit before allowing them in. As soon as they asked them to move in, thousands of youngsters standing and enthused over the recruitment tried to push them in from the gate resulting in the breaking of the barbed wire and the two fell into a pit dug by the Army. They died due to asphyxiation as thousands of youths ran over them to enter the venue thinking the recruitment would be on first come-first serve basis.
The dead identified as Harjinder Singh of Buttar village near Mehta and Ranjodh Singh of Kaler village in Tarn Taran district were taken to a nearby private hospital where they were declared brought dead. The Khasa police registered a case under Section 174, Cr PC. The bodies were later taken to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar for postmortem and handed over to relatives.
Jaspal Singh, uncle of Harjinder, said his nephew was the only hope of the family as his father had died a few years ago leaving behind his wife. But with the death of his
nephew, the mother had been left to fend for herself. He said the authorities must give proper compensation so that the old woman could make both ends meet while overcoming this gruesome tragedy.
In spite of the deaths of the two youths, the recruitment continued giving scant regard to value of human lives. A large number of people present there were shocked at the callous behaviour of the Army recruitment authorities and said better and adequate arrangements were required in view of the massive turnout of rural youths to join the Army.
Deputy commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu has ordered a magisterial probe into the deaths of two youths and urged the state government to provide Rs 2.5 lakh as compensation to the kin. He has further urged the state government to take up the matter with the Defence Ministry on inadequate arrangements during the recruitment rallies. He rued that the Army was following a 200-year- old recruitment mechanism and added that the recruiting module needed to be changed forthwith so that such incidents did not occur again.
However, Col K.K. Kiran, supervising the recruitment, without showing remorse over the killing of the two youths, washed his hands of the incident, saying they were simply following the procedure laid down by the Recruitment Board of the Army. He said they had made proper lighting arrangements in the area as the surface outside the venue was uneven and added they did not expect such a huge rush of candidates.
Colonel Kiran said though the recruitment rally today was being held for the youths of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts only, people from Gurdaspur district who were supposed to come tomorrow, had also arrived today as well and contributed to the crowd.
