BHOPAL: The Panna district of Madhya Pradesh lost 25 pilgrims in the bus tragedy in Uttarakhand on Sunday evening.
Out of the 25 passengers who died when the bus which they were on the religious trek of Char Dham Yatra, plunged into a 1,000-ft deep gorge, eight hailed from two families in Buddh Singh Sata village.
The deceased included Dinesh Dwivedi, wife Uma Dwivedi, Dinesh's septuagenarian mother Raj Kuvar, besides Dinesh's two cousins Harinarayan Dwivedi, Roop Narayan Dwivedi and a female family member.
Four others from Mohendra village too are related to the family of Dinesh Dwivedi, who had led a group of 40-50 pilgrims from different villages of Panna district on the Char Dham Yatra on May 20.
"I was busy with my leader for local body polls in Gwalior. I spoke to my father-in-law Dinesh Dwivedi over phone just before they left for the bus journey to Yamunotri. We never thought that it would be his last phone call. The bodies have reached Khajuraho from Dehradun by special IAF aircraft and will soon be brought to their villages for the last rites. As the bodies would arrive after sunset, the last rites will be performed on Tuesday morning. Eight funeral pyres will be lit in Buddh Singh Sata village," Dinesh Dwivedi's son-in-law Sooraj Dwivedi, who is the personal assistant of senior Congress leader Mukesh Nayak told The New Indian Express.
The other villages of Panna district, which lost their people, included Simariya, Pandwan, Kunwarpur Mohendra, Pawai, Koni, Kakarhata, Koni and Chikhla. All 25 deceased were aged between 50 and 78 years.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who flew to Dehradun on Sunday late night announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each for the next of kin of those who lost their lives and Rs 50,000 for the injured in Dehradun.
Earlier, the PM Narendra Modi too, while condoling the death of the Char Dham Yatra pilgrims, had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from the PMNRF for the next of kin of all those who died, alongside Rs 50,000 for each of the injured.
The CM flew to Dehradun on late night on Sunday only and held meeting with the Uttarakhand authorities at the State Disaster Management Control Room in the wee hours to keep a tab on search and rescue operations. The local BJP MP from Khajuraho and state BJP president VD Sharma also reached Dehradun along with state minister Brijendra Singh in the morning.
Chouhan along with Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the hill from which the one of the two buses boarding pilgrims from Panna (MP) to Yamunotri had plunged into the gorge in Uttarkashi district.
As per reports, the Uttarakhand government has instituted a magisterial probe into the mishap. While the driver of the ill-fated bus has survived, the conductor died.