The difference in the scenes between the journey to Shahpur and Ward No. 4 in the town is stark. The surrounding area is rich with green hills and open grasslands. Within Shahpur, in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, the roads are wide and clean, and markets full. In Ward No. 4 is a deafening silence. An empty temple, a tent with a stage filled with puja samagri (items) from an incomplete religious gathering, and debris of a now-demolished house, all tell of a tragedy that befell the children of this town. Everything is rain-drenched. It is the monsoon season after all.
On August 4, after a night of heavy rains, about 20 children, most of them friends from the locality, woke up early, got dressed, and ran to the temple by 7.30 a.m. Here, the annual Rama Katha, the telling of the story of Rama, was being organised across a week. On its sidelines, the children sat down to make Parthiv Shivlings out of clay, before the gathering resumed on the third day. The tent they were under was next to a wall of a house that was over 50 years old.
In about an hour, the wall crumbled, trapping the children between the plastic tirpal (floor mat) on which they sat and a plastic covering to protect against the drizzle. The covering was burdened with falling debris.
As the adults scrambled, looking for the children under the debris, the police arrived along with three ambulances. By then though, five children had died. Two others were declared brought dead at Shahpur’s primary health centre (PHC), while two more died on the way to hospital. Two injured children are undergoing treatment in Sagar, the closest city, roughly 35 km away.
Reeling from the shock of the wall collapse, people’s anger soared at the PHC, and the police had to come in to calm them down. It was a Sunday, and the doctor was not on duty, leaving an inexperienced nurse to deal with the situation.
The deceased children were identified as Dhruv Yadav, Devraj Sahu, Prince Sahu, all 12; Ashutosh Prajapati, Divyansh Sahu, Hemant Joshi, all 11; and Nitish Patel, Parv Vishwakarma, and Vansh Lodhi, all 10.
A recounting of the episode, and grief
“He told his mother that he was going to build Shankarji (Shivling), and ran to the temple with his friends. It was Sunday, so I was sleeping and woke up only after I heard the chaos,” Hemant’s father Bhoore Joshi says. “I did not know that the next time I would see my son it would be under the debris.” Bhoore says his son was breathing when he pulled him out.
“I have a transport van, so I just rushed him to a private hospital in Damoh. I had already heard that there was no doctor at the PHC. All the way to Damoh, my son kept asking me if he would live,” he recalls, adding that Hemant stopped breathing before getting to the hospital. “The doctors in Damoh told me that my son could have been saved if he had received early treatment,” he says, blaming the local PHC.
People in the area say that all the women and children were to join the gathering in an hour’s time, in which case the tragedy would have been far greater.
Debris of the house whose wall collapsed, killing nine children in Shahpur town, Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh.
| Photo Credit:
A.M Faruqui
A day before the incident, four children had died in Rewa district, after the wall of a house collapsed on them when they were returning from school. Two children also died in Narsinghpur district, after the roof of their house fell on their family at night.
As per official data, more than 200 people have died in the State in the ongoing monsoon season. “The most deaths were reported in lightning incidents, while nearly 30 people died in building collapses,” a Revenue Department official says, adding that the State government is working to provide compensation to those who have lost their loved ones.
The parents do not care about compensation though. “We cannot put a price on our children,” says Kamlesh Patel, Nitish’s father. “He had dreams. He was an active, sporty boy,” says Nitish’s mother as she sits on the floor of their house in despair. “He wanted to join the Army.” Nitish had recently returned from Pune, where his father works as a labour contractor. “He used to punch me in the stomach asking me to reduce my belly. Now, it has gone in just three days without him. I just cannot eat,” Kamlesh says, as he consoles his wife while sobbing himself.
SAGAR: 06/08/2024, FOR SPOTLIGHT_Parents and sister of Nitish Patel, 10, Father, sister, and other family members of Ashutosh Prajapati, 11, who died in a wall collapse incident during a religious event, sit at their house in Shahpur town of Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district. Photo : A.M.FARUQUI/The Hindu
| Photo Credit:
FARUQUI AM
It is the third day since the deaths, and priests, neighbours, and relatives have come to be with the families as some prepare to go to Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj for rituals.
Two doors away from the accident site, Maan Singh Prajapati, Ashutosh’s father, sits outside his house with his daughter and other family members. He has injuries on both his knees, from working through the debris. Ashutosh’s mother has been hospitalised since her son’s death. His sister, Nancy, sits quietly by. Raksha Bandhan is two weeks away, and she asks whose wrist she will tie a rakhi on.
The family members of Ashutosh Prajapati, 11, and (right) Nitish Patel, 10, who died in the wall collapse at Shahpur during a religious event.
| Photo Credit:
A.M Faruqui
“Ashutosh’s cousin came running to me. I could not understand what had happened when I saw the scene,” Maan Singh says, adding that he looked for over half an hour for his son before he was found. “He was gone by then, but I still rushed him to the PHC,” he says.
A State government pushed into action
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav expressed their anguish at the deaths at Shahpur.
The police filed an FIR under Section 105 (culpable homicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and arrested three persons: one of the organisers of the gathering, Shiv Patel; his son, Sanju Patel; and the owner of the house, Mulu Patel. A bulldozer soon razed the remaining portions of Mulu’s house.
Locals say organising the Rama Katha had become a business for Shiv and the temple priest, Ramadhar Tiwari. The gathering has been a regular affair in the month of Sawan for more than seven years, they say. “Shiv owns a tent house and a sound system. So, it was a zero-investment event for them, with promising returns of offerings and donations, which he and Ramadhar would divide,” says Ram Ratan Prajapati, whose son was injured in the incident.
A community centre opposite the site where the children died. Locals say that the hall could have been used for the children’s event given the weather conditions and the risks posed by the dilapidated house.
| Photo Credit:
A.M Faruqui
He says the priest ran away moments after the wall collapsed and has now left the town. “I will make sure that he too is arrested,” he says.
The organisers neither took permission for the event nor informed the authorities about it, Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Uikey says. A series of suspension and transfer orders was issued in Bhopal to officials such as the then District Collector, Deepak Arya; Superintendent of Police Abhishek Tiwari; and Sagar Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sandeep Singh.
Dr. Hariom Bansal, the then in-charge of the Shahpur PHC, was suspended for “gross negligence and lack of control over his staff”. Shahpur Municipal Council’s officer in-charge Dhananjay Gumasta and sub-engineer Veer Vikram Singh were also suspended for not inspecting the building whose wall had collapsed.
A day after the incident, State Urban Development and Housing Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said he had directed the Commissioners of all Municipal Corporations in Madhya Pradesh to identify dilapidated houses in their areas and remove their dangerous portions. Shahpur’s new Collector Sandeep G.R. also issued an order to identify and mark all dilapidated buildings in the district, and serve a seven-day notice to their owners to demolish weak structures.
Shahpur Municipal Council chairperson Devraj Lodhi says at least 35 more such houses have been identified and notices served to their owners. “We have already demolished four houses with the cooperation of their owners, and more will follow,” he says, claiming that nobody is going to be displaced in the demolitions being carried out as most of the damaged houses have been lying empty for years.
“Their owners have already built new houses, most of them with benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and moved there,” he says, adding that many such owners had not demolished the structures in the hope of government compensation in the event of their collapse due to rains. “Mulu, from what we understand, had similar intentions,” he says.
Shahpur’s Naib Tehsildar (Deputy Revenue Officer) Vinay Kant Tripathi, however, says in case someone is displaced in the drive, he has asked officials to prepare a list to be given to the district administration for help in rehabilitation.
Anger, despair, and questions
Anger laced with unanswered questions is on every street in Shahpur. It is directed at the organisers, the priest at the temple, the DJ, local administration, and a broken healthcare system.
Now, there are nurses and a couple of doctors at Shahpur PHC. However, at the time of the incident, Rachna Lodhi, with less than two years of work experience, was the only nurse. “I got a call about the wall collapse when I was at home, so I immediately rushed to the PHC and called Dr. Bansal,” she says, adding that four children were brought there. “I referred two injured children to larger hospitals after giving them primary treatment. Two had already died,” she says.
For about an hour, Rachna was confronted with distraught patients and an angry mob. “I was alone, and scared.” She says she also had to deal with injuries, some of which were so ghastly that she began to feel dizzy.
The parents, sister and relatives of Vansh Lodhi, 10, one of the children who died in the incident.
| Photo Credit:
A.M Faruqui
Sub-Inspector Rajesh Sharma, in-charge of the local police sub-station who was among the first responders, says it was getting difficult to calm crowds at two places. “People were talking about setting the PHC on fire,” he says.
At the PHC, staff members list out several challenges in its functioning. They also defend Dr. Bansal, a 26-year-old who was recruited just nine months ago. One of the doctors, who has now been deputed here temporarily from a nearby centre, says the PHC has six staff members, including one doctor, while many positions are lying vacant. “The staff members work on a rotational basis and the OPD remains closed on Sundays,” he says, unwilling to be named.
The PHC caters to roughly 20,000 people in Shahpur and the residents of around 40 villages.
“We are severely understaffed and six people cannot handle such a large population,” another staff member says, adding that the average OPD footfall at the PHC is 12,000 per month. “The government needs someone to pin the blame on. So, they suspended Dr. Bansal, but nobody wants to hear or address the challenges we face on the ground,” he adds.
Sagar district’s Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr. Mamta Timori says Dr. Bansal had reached the PHC within 35-40 minutes of the incident.
At the police sub-station, a constable, who was on duty at the time of incident, says there are only five or six personnel posted there. “After the call, I stayed back here alone while SI Sharma and four constables immediately rushed to the spot,” he says. While Sharma says additional force and senior officers soon arrived from Sagar and nearby areas, the first hour was difficult as the children had to be rescued and crowds managed at two locations. A senior police officer in Bhopal admits to the shortage of personnel across the State and says this is something that has to be addressed at a higher level on priority.
In Shahpur, the families of Shiv and Mulu are sorry about the accident that killed nine children, but also fear for their safety. Mulu, an elderly retired government school teacher, is currently in hospital after his arrest.
“My son and husband are both in jail. I live in fear with my 12-year-old daughter, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old granddaughter. We have called some relatives to live with us for now,” Shiv’s wife Rajni says, adding that the family has been receiving threats from people, and that the police are not giving them protection.
“My family did not do this on purpose. Why will we kill children intentionally? This gathering has been happening for years. All locals take part in it. But now everybody has turned against us. If they knew it was not safe, why didn’t they say anything earlier?” she says.
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