Union HM Amit Shah Cancels Kolkata Durga Puja Tour After Chorbagan Stampede Claims 19 Lives, To Visit Injured

Kolkata, Oct 18: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit those injured in the stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal here on Sunday, a day after postponing his scheduled Puja programmes in the wake of the tragedy.

At least 19 people died, and 25 were injured in the stampede at the Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata following a crowd surge amid rain on Saturday evening.

Shah, who arrived here on Saturday evening for a two-day West Bengal tour, is likely to visit the Kolkata Medical College and Hospital in the College Street area of central Kolkata, where a majority of the injured are undergoing treatment, officials said.

His altered official itinerary is yet to be announced.

Shah likely to visit injured

Two of the injured pandal hoppers are also admitted at the Trauma Care Centre of the state-run SSKM Hospital, but it remains unclear whether Shah will visit them as well.

“I have just received the extremely heartbreaking news of the stampede that occurred at the Chorbagan Public Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata. I have spoken with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari regarding this matter. I pray for the peace of the souls of the devotees who lost their lives in this tragedy and express my condolences to their families,” Shah had posted on X after his arrival in Kolkata.

“The administration is ensuring that all possible medical facilities are being provided to the injured. I will postpone all my scheduled programmes in West Bengal tomorrow and visit the hospital to meet the injured. I pray to Maa Durga for the swift recovery of all the injured,” he had said on Saturday.

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Scheduled Durga Puja visits cancelled

According to Shah’s original itinerary, he was scheduled to visit the Ramakrishna Mission headquarters in Belur Math on Sunday morning and several other community Durga Pujas in Howrah and Kolkata later in the day to participate in the festivities.

He was also scheduled to visit the over-250-year-old puja at Sovabazar Rajbari, the royal palace inhabited by descendants of Raja Nabakrishna Deb, in north Kolkata and leave for Delhi in the afternoon.

Adhikari had on Saturday said that in the wake of the tragedy, Shah has decided to cancel his Puja visits and will leave for the national capital after meeting the injured in the hospital.

(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)