MP’s Panna district lost 25 pilgrims in Uttarakhand tragedy

BHOPAL:  Madhya Pradesh’s Panna district lost its 25 residents in the bus tragedy in Uttarakhand on Sunday evening. Of the 25 passengers who died when the bus on the Char Dham Yatra trek plunged into a deep gorge, eight belonged to two families in Buddh Singh Sata village of the district.

The deceased included Dinesh Dwivedi, his wife Uma, Dinesh’s mother Raj Kuvar, besides Dinesh’s two cousins Harinarayan and Roop Narayan besides a female family member. Four others from Mohendra village too are related to the family of Dinesh Dwivedi. They led a group of pilgrims from different villages on the Char Dham Yatra on May 20.

“I spoke to my father-in-law Dinesh Dwivedi over the phone just before they were leaving for the journey to Yamunotri. That was the last we spoke,” said Sooraj Dwivedi, who is the personal assistant of senior Congress leader Mukesh Nayak. 

The bodies have reached Khajuraho from Dehradun by a special IAF plane. The other villages of Panna district that lost their residents included Simariya, Pandwan, Kunwarpur Mahendra, Pawai, Koni, Kakarhata, Koni and Chikhla. All the 25 deceased were aged between 50 and 78 years.

CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan who flew to Dehradun Sunday late night announced ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each for the families and Rs 50,000 for the injured. PM Narendra Modi, while condoling the deaths, had announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from the PMNRF for the next of kin of all those who died, along with Rs 50,000 for each of the injured.