Expert panel to look into Cochin University stampede that claimed 4 lives: Kerala govt
Kochi (PTI): The Kerala government on Sunday said it has decided to constitute an expert committee to look into the stampede during Cochin University's annual festival a day ago that claimed four lives and injured over 60 others.
State Higher Education Minister R Bindu said the expert panel will also frame terms of reference to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the future.
Besides that, reports have been called from the university Vice Chancellor and Principal Secretary of the Higher Education Department regarding the tragic incident, the minister told reporters here.
She said the organisers were responsible for ensuring there was adequate preparedness for crowd control when such events were being hosted.
She said any further action would be taken after receiving all the reports.
State Law and Industries Minister P Rajeev said police had issued advisories to all auditoriums in Ernakulam with regard to crowd control, but educational institutions were not included in the same.
He also told reporters that of the four dead, three were students of the university and the fourth was an outsider.
Meanwhile, Kochi City Police Commissioner A Akbar said no official requisition was received from the university for police help.
After the inquest proceedings were completed, the bodies of the three students -- Athul Thambi, Ann Ruftha and Sara Thomas -- were brought to the university campus for people to pay their tributes.
The fourth person who died was Palakkad resident Alwin.
A sea of people, including students and the general public, were queued outside the hall where the bodies were kept.
Ministers Bindu and Rajeev, former Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac and Congress MP Hibi Eden were also present among other political leaders to pay their last respects.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan condoled the deaths.
"Deeply shocked and grieved to know about the sad demise of four students at a stampede at CochinUniversity of Science and Technology. Heartfelt condolences to their families. Prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured," Khan said in a Facebook post.
Satheesan termed the incident as heartbreaking, while Muraleedharan said he was shocked and saddened by the deaths.
Alwin's family said they came to know about his death upon seeing his name on news channels about those who died in the incident.
Officials said the stampede occurred before renowned singer Nikita Gandhi was to perform at a musical festival in the open-air auditorium of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) near Kochi.
They also said that of the injured, two people were in critical condition and in the ICU of a private hospital. Besides them, three others were in ICU of the Kalamassery government medical college hospital and 31 were in the general ward there. All of them were in stable condition, they said.
Following the incident, Nikita Gandhi expressed her heartbreak and devastation in a Facebook post.
She had said that the incident took place before she could even leave for the venue for the performance.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held an emergency meeting at a government guest house in Kozhikode in the wake of the tragedy and condoled the death of students.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
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Modified scheme to provide cashless treatment for road accident victims nationwide: Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi, Jan 8: The government will come up with a modified scheme by March to provide cashless treatment for road accident victims nationwide, under which they will be entitled to a maximum amount of Rs 1.5 lakh per accident per person, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.
According to Gadkari, the scheme will be applicable to all road accidents caused by the use of motor vehicles on any category of road.
The National Health Authority (NHA) shall be the implementing agency for the programme, in coordination with police, hospitals and State Health Agency etc.
The programme will be implemented through an IT platform, combining the functionalities of the e-Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) application of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Transaction Management System of NHA.
"The broad contours of the pilot programme are -- victims entitled to cashless treatment up to a maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh per accident per person for a maximum period of 7 days from date of the accident," Gadkari said while addressing a press conference.
The government will come up with a modified scheme by March this year.
On March 14, 2024, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) had launched a pilot programme to provide cashless treatment to road accident victims.
The pilot programme -- initiated in Chandigarh -- was aimed at establishing an ecosystem for providing timely medical care to the victims of road accidents, including during the golden hour.
The pilot project was later expanded to six states.
The road transport and highways minister also said the government is studying labour laws to frame a policy for fixing working hours for commercial drivers, on the lines of pilots, as driver fatigue is resulting in fatal road crashes, Gadkari said, adding that India is facing a shortage of 22 lakh drivers.
MoRTH organised a two-day workshop on January 6, and 7, 2025 to holistically deliberate issues, solutions and next steps to be taken to help drive transformation in India's road transport sector.
During the two-day workshop, accelerating implementation of Vehicle Scrapping Policy, pan-India adoption of PUCC 2.0, timelines for introduction of BS-VII norms were discussed, along with expected reduction in pollution with the norms.
Gadkari also launched the scheme for pan-India setup of Driver Training Institutes (DTI) which provides incentives for setting up DTIs and additional incentives for integrated infrastructure of ATSs and DTIs.
The minister stressed on the introduction of specific regulations and guidelines for improving E-Rickshaw safety, given the proliferation of e-rickshaws across the country.
Gadkari said deliberations were done for introduction of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) for trucks and strict enforcement of retro reflective tape for transport vehicle safety.
Implementation of monitoring centers & vehicle location tracking devices (VLTD) for safety of women and children were also discussed.
The meeting also discussed the launch and integration of all faceless services by the end of March 2025.
"Further, a Committee of Secretaries with representatives from States, MoRTH and NIC will work towards standardization of faceless services modules, document standardization for registration," he added.
