The Eknath Shinde-led administration was the subject of criticism from the opposition parties on Thursday as a result of the 14 people who died from sunstroke after an incident in Navi Mumbai’s Kharghar in April of this year.
Congress leaders and representatives from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) grilled the administration about the extra time the investigation committee had been allowed to produce its report on the event.
After attending the ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ award ceremony in Navi Mumbai’s Kharghar neighborhood on April 16, fourteen persons passed away from sunstroke.
Several lakh people, the most of them were supporters of social worker Appasaheb Dharmadhikari, who was awarded Maharashtra’s highest civilian honor by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, attended the ceremony, which was held in an open field under the intense July heat.
On July 13, the committee formed by the state administration to look into the situation received a one-month extension.
Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat made reference to it when he remarked, “The state administration appears to be intentionally squandering time by issuing such extensions. We ask the state administration to provide the house with the report on the Kharghar tragedy. “Who was that wise person who ordered to hold the event at noon in the sweltering heat of April?” said NCP leader Jayant Patil. The person’s name should be stated in this. The cultural affairs department of the Maharashtra government organized the Kharghar festival.
Minister of Cultural Affairs Sudhir Mungantiwar responded to the criticism by accusing the opposition of attempting to politicize the subject.
No family of the dead has ever had a complaint about the location or the organization, according to Mungantiwar.
“The IMD predicted that the area will have a temperature of 34.1 °C on April 14. The minister said that the actual temperature that day was 38 degrees Celsius.
He said that the opposition is “greedy” and engaging in petty politics.
The opposition was offended by the minister’s comments, and its members asked that the assembly speaker step in. They argued that they ought to be able to talk.
Mungantiwar said, “The committee chairman has urged the state administration for a delay. We did not request a postponement. The committee must review every aspect of the situation. Time ought to be provided to them.
Speaking on earlier events, the minister recalled that “114 people were killed (in Nagpur) when members of the Gowari community were lathi-charged when Sharad Pawar was the state chief minister. In the Satara district, 293 people perished in the Mandhardevi stampede. But we never made those concerns political.