Mass cremation held; CM orders probe
NURPUR: A pall of gloom descended over Himachal Pradesh’s Khuwara village as 12 children, who were killed in a road accident, were cremated Tuesday. Thirty people, including 27 children, were killed in the accident after a school bus plunged into a deep gorge near Gurchal village on the Nurpur-chamba highway on Monday.
Khuwara village suffered the maximum loss — 14 lives of which 13 were children. Other kids belonged to Ther, Suliyali, Khanora, Haar Gatla and Ther villages.
Septuagenarian Nek Chand lost four of his grandchildren.
“I have offered my both kids to the God,” said Kusum Jamwal, one of Chand’s daughters-in-law.
She said she once thought of shifting her daughter, who wanted to become a nurse, to a government school but the latter requested her to let her complete Class 12. Simran, 17, the only surviving child in the house, blamed bad roads and indifferent attitude of the authorities. “They come to seek vote, make tall promises but forget after winning,” she said.
Simran said that a few months ago, a truck had rolled down near the spot where the bus veered off.
Also among the dead on Monday was 21-year-old Poonam Pathania, who took a lift on the fateful day. Her marriage was fixed next month and she had gone to Nurpur for shopping.
Meanwhile, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur attended the wreath laying ceremony that was held on Tuesday. He expressed his heartfelt condolences with the bereaved families.
Thakur also met the injured children at Nurpur Hospital (Kangra) and Amandeep Hospital (Punjab) and wished them a speedy recovery.
The chief minister also lauded the bravery of Ranveer, a 10-yearold boy, who allegedly despite being injured himself reached the road site and informed people about the accident. He said the government would soon set up a committee for suggestions on how to avoid such incidents.
He said that the state government would provide all possible help to the injured and directed doctors to refer the injured children, if needed, to another hospital on government’s expenses.
He said the government has ordered a magisterial inquiry to probe the cause of the accident.