Harni tragedy: Compensation amounts announced

Vadodara: A declaration made on Friday will comfort the kin of those killed in the Harni Lake boat capsize in which 12 schoolchildren and two teachers drowned during a picnic on Jan 18, 2024.
On Friday, the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) and deputy collector of Vadodara, V K Sambad, on behalf of the Gujarat govt, submitted an affidavit before the Gujarat high court (HC).
The affidavit, which includes the SDM's order, states that compensation to the relatives of the deceased and those injured has been computed according to the principles enshrined in the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) 1988.
According to the SDM's order, compensation of Rs 31,75,700 has been calculated for the next of kin of each of the 12 children killed. The compensation for the two deceased teachers — Chhaya Patel and Falguni Surti — has been calculated at Rs 11,21,900 and Rs 16,68,029 respectively.
According to the SDM's order, two others injured in the tragedy are entitled to Rs 50,000 as compensation. The SDM's report and order were placed before the Gujarat high court, which is hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) where the victims are seeking compensation for the negligence of M/s Kotia Projects in running the project, which led to the tragedy.
The Gujarat HC on Nov 29 took note of the Vadodara collector's report on the victims and their kin and said that the assessment of compensation would focus solely on the contractor's liability for damages, adding that it is not concerned with internal disputes within the company. It asked the Vadodara collector to nominate an officer of the rank of deputy collector to calculate compensation according to the principles under the Motor Vehicles Act after hearing the victims and the contractor — M/s Kotia Projects.
The families of the 14 victims, however, contended that the compensation for the victims cannot be decided based on the provisions of the MV Act as the tragedy was a "consequence of a sequence of illegal acts" on the part of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, the school and contractors running the lake zone on a public-private-partnership (PPP) model.
"All of them should be jointly liable to pay compensation of Rs 5 crore to the families of each of the deceased. We demanded Rs 5 lakh each for the injured," said Hitesh Gupta, the advocate representing the victims, who also earlier submitted an application to the SDM.
"We demanded compensation of Rs 5 crore per family and emphasized that there should be joint liability of the civic body, the school and the contractors," he said, adding that the VMC officers failed to perform their duty, which resulted in the setting up of "an illegal lake zone" that eventually led to the tragedy.
"Also, the SDM's order does not consider all the injured victims. The order mentions compensation for only two injured persons, whereas the police investigation and chargesheet clearly mention 11 school children who survived. We will be making a representation before the high court that the quantum of the victims has not been properly assessed," he said.