Navi Mumbai: At least 11 dead due to heatstroke at Maharashtra Bhushan award event, more than 120 hospitalised

Navi Mumbai: Eleven people died of sunstroke while many others were said to be critical, after attending the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony held at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai on Sunday. More than 120 people suffered from dehydration, after being exposed to the scorching sun for a few hours because of the open-air seating arrangement at the venue.The number of fatalities is likely to go up.

Many of them were rushed to nearby hospitals like the ACTREC at Kharghar and the MGM Hospital at Kamothe, sources said. However, the hospital administration declined to comment.

More than three lakh people were believed to have gathered at the event, where social activist Dattatreya Narayan alias Appasaheb Dharmadhikari was conferred the Maharashtra Bhushan award, a government official said.

Temperature was 42° Celsius at the time of event

The temperature at that time of the day was 42° Celsius. The venue of the event was an open ground, with only VIP attendees having access toshade.Vehicles were stopped around one kilometre away from the venue, from where attendees had to trudge up to the venue and sit in the scorching heat.

Lakhs of followers of Dharmadhikari attended the grand function, held on a sprawling 306-acre ground in Kharghar. Union Home Minister Amit Shah presented the award, instituted by the Maharashtra government, to Dharmadhikari. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis were also present on the occasion.

The event, for which people had started gathering since morning, began around 11.30 am and went on till around 1 pm. Many of the attendees had arrived on Saturday. During the event, Shah said he had never seen such big gathering to honour a person for social service.

The ground was packed with people and equipped with audio/ video facilities for followers of Shree Sadasya (Dharmadhikari’s organisation) to witness the function. There was open-air seating, without any provision for an overhead canopy.

What do officials say about the situation?

“A total of 123 people complained of heat-related health ailments, like dehydration, during the event. They were immediately referred to the 30 medical booths set up at the venue. Thirteen of the patients, who needed further treatment, were shifted to different private hospitals,” said a revenue department official, who was on duty at the venue.

“A total of 30 doctors were deployed at the medical booths that had intensive care unit (ICU) facilities to treat people at the venue,” she said.

A Raigad district information officer confirmed that many followers were admitted to different hospitals including MGM Kamothe where CM Eknath Shinde visited around 9pm on Sunday.

“Eight people (initial figure) have died due to heat stroke and 24 are still under treatment at the hospital. We have announced Rs 5 lakh compensation to the families of the deceased and the government will bear all the medical expenses of those admitted to the hospital,” said Shinde.