MADHYA PRADESH: Eleven bodies have been recovered and 19 people rescued from a well, which collapsed on Thursday during a rescue operation to pull out a boy, in the Ganjbasoda area of Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha district.
Villagers said the sarpanch and local administration were to be blamed for the accident.
"The well is the only source of water for 700 families of the village. A large number of people came here for fetching water. The safety wall of the well was weak and villagers informed the sarpanch and panchayat secretary about it. Even the boy fell into the well as a part of it caved in," said a woman who lives near the well.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed his condolences to the families of those who died after falling into the well and also announced an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh for the families of the victims. "Anguished by the tragedy in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. My condolences to the bereaved families. An ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh each from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of those who lost their lives," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) tweeted.
News agency PTI cited MP's medical education Minister Vishwas Sarang as saying late on Friday that the boy's body was the last one to be taken out from the well. Sarang, the district's guardian minister, also said that the rescue operations have ended.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a high-level inquiry in the matter and also announced an ex gratia of ₹5 lakh for the next kin of the deceased and ₹50,000 to those injured in the accident.
Several leaders, including Congress' Rahul Gandhi, expressed their grief over the deaths. "Deeply saddened by the news of many people falling in the tragic accident that took place in Ganjbasoda, Vidisha, I pray to god for everyone's safety," Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted.
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