Lucknow, March 6
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has claimed that the state was facing an “acute financial crisis” and was not in a position to give any monetary compensation to the families of those killed or injured in Thursday’s Pratapgarh stampede.

Sixty-three persons were killed in a stampede in Kripaluji Maharaj Ashram in Mangarh village of Pratapgarh district. In a press statement, Mayawati urged the Centre to compensate the family of victims.

“In view of the acute financial crisis being currently faced by the state, I am appealing to the Centre to be generous in giving away decent compensation to the families of those who have lost their lives or were injured in the unfortunate stampede at the ashram run by spiritual guru Kripaluji Maharaj in Mangarh village of Pratapgarh district,” Mayawati said.

“However, in case the Union Government expresses its inability to pay, we will squeeze our resources to mobilise funds for the purpose,” the statement added.

Mayawati justified her stand by saying the Centre’s National Calamities Relief Fund is meant for natural disasters and not of the kind of Pratapgarh incident. “The Centre does provide states with a Calamities Relief Fund (CRF), but that is meant to be utilised only towards natural disasters and not tragedies like this one,” she said.

In the statement Mayawati said she had asked all Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MPs to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demand assistance to meet the financial needs.

“I have, therefore, asked all my party MPs to call on the Prime Minister and seek help for creating a central fund to meet financial needs arising from such tragedies,” Mayawati said.

She said the state government had asked the Pratapgarh district administration to ensure that the necessary assistance was made available to the victims and their family members.

Earlier, the Prime Minister had announced Rs 2 lakh compensation from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of the victims of the stampede.

Meanwhile, the BJP has said that it was “patently inhuman” for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to say that her government did not have enough funds to provide compensation to Pratapgarh stampede victims and asked how much money she had spent on erecting her own statues.

“How can Mayawati say her government has no funds for the stampede victims? It is unbelievable that a large state like Uttar Pradesh does not have funds for giving compensation. This is patently inhuman,” party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

“Any democratic party cannot speak such a language,” he said.

Pratapgarh (UP): Former BJP president Rajnath Singh said on Saturday that the head of an ashram, where 63 women and children were killed in a stampede during a feast organised for poor villagers, could not be blamed for the tragedy as there was “no ill intention” on his part.

“There is no ill intention on the part of Kripalu Maharaj and his aim is also not wrong..., in fact, he is only interested in the welfare of people,” Singh, who visited the families of the dead and injured, told reporters here.

He lashed out at UP Chief Minister Mayawati for not visiting the stampede site and issuing a statement that the state government would provide financial assistance to kin of the victims only if the Centre failed to respond.

Singh demanded an ex gratia of Rs ten lakh for those who lost lives and Rs 2 lakh for the injured besides free treatment for them. He warned of a protest if the state failed to do so. — Agencies