Kharghar deaths: "Shinde govt 100 pc responsible, facts must come out," says Sharad Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said that the Eknath Shindeled Maharashtra government is solely responsible for the deaths of 13 people in Kharghar and reiterated his demand for a judicial inquiry into the deaths of people during or after the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony adding that actual facts must come outIt was 100 per cent the state govt responsibility as they organised the event keeping elections in mind A sitting judge must investigate this incident and the actual facts must come out Pawar said while addressing the organizational meeting for BMC pollsEarlier in the day former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray demanded the resignations of CM Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra FadnavisAs many as 13 people who attended the openair Maharashtra Bhushan Award ceremony on Sunday at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai died from heatstrokeUddhav Thackeray said that the organisers of the event should be punished as arrangements were not at the required levelTalking to the mediapersons Thackeray said Those who organized this event should be punished The Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra should take responsibility and resign from their posts It is not that the Maharashtra Bhushan ceremony happened for the first time it has happened many times before If they had to organize such a big event then the arrangements should have been of that levelEarlier in the day the Leader of Opposition LoP in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Ajit Pawar also wrote a letter to Governor Ramesh Bais demanding an inquiry into the incident and urged the matter to be probed through a retired judgeAlso Read Maharashtra govt to file curative petition in SC on Maratha quotaThe Maharashtra government on Thursday said that they have formed a onemember committee to investigate the matter The committee headed by the additional chief secretary of the Revenue Department will submit its report within a month The committee will also make recommendations to the government on things that are to be taken care of in future when planning such eventsEarlier Chief Minister Eknath Shinde declared Rs 5 lakh each as compensation for the nextofkin of the deceased and added that his government will bear the medical expenses of those still undergoing treatment at the hospitalThe attendees who came down with heat strokes at the ceremony were admitted to Tata Hospital in KhargharMeanwhile on Thursday former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray his son Aditya Thackeray and NCP leader Ajit Pawar visited those still undergoing treatment at the hospitalThe Maharashtra Bhushan Award ceremony was attended by Union home minister Amit Shah CM Shinde and his deputy Devendra FadnavisThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever