Akhilesh sends ministers, top officials to stampede site

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has directed two ministers in his cabinet as well senior officials in his administration to visit Allahabad in the wake of a stampede at the city’s railway station on Sunday night.

The tragic stampede has claimed the lives of 36 pilgrims who were on their way back after attending the Maha Kumbh Mela at Allahabad on Sunday night.

Akhilesh, along with his father and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh, is busy attending the wedding of a cousin at Saifai, in Etawah district, 

“The chief minister has directed Panchayati Raj Minister Balram Yadav and Transport Minister Durga Prasad Yadav to rush to Allahabad and personally supervise the relief measures being undertaken for the stampede victims,” said an official press release.

Akhilesh has also instructed Chief Secretary Javed Usmani and Director General of Police A C Sharma to immediately leave for Allahabad.

Another press release stated, “The chief secretary and the DGP have been asked to take stock of the situation, initiate necessary measures for providing relief to the families of those killed and for ensuring proper treatment to the injured.”

While there is no official word on whether the chief minister will also visit Allahabad, sources close to him confirmed that he was busy attending his cousin Anshul’s marriage in Saifai.

A Samajwadi Party functionary at the district level, Anshul is the son of Mulayam’s younger brother Raj Pal Yadav.