Tent collapse at PM Narendra Modi's West Bengal rally: Probe panel blames Mamata Government for lapses

The probe panel said in its report that no rehearsal was done by the police ahead of the event.

NEW DELHI: An inquiry conducted by a central team to assess the circumstances leading to the collapse of a tent during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent rally at West Bengal's Midnapore has pointed to serious lapses in the security arrangements put in place by the local administration.

The panel, in its report, blamed the local authorities for the alleged lapses and said that adequate cooperation was not provided to the advance security liaison team ahead of PM Modi's rally.

The inquiry report, which was submitted to the Union Home Ministry, suggested that not enough state police personnel were deployed within the 5-km radius of the Prime Minister's function.

The panel also claimed that proper logistical help was not given to the advance security liaisoning team, which visited the state two weeks before the Prime Minister's visit.

The fact-finding panel indicated that there was a gross violation of the set norms by the state police and district administration. The report indicated that the rulebook was violated on a number of counts by the state and district administration. 

The panel also noted that the ruling Trinamool Congress government's visible lack of cooperation caused a huge 'risk' to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's life.

The inquiry panel was constituted to look into the circumstances due to which the makeshift tent, erected next to the main entrance of rally venue to shelter people from rain, collapsed when PM Modi was halfway through his speech on July 16.

However, the findings of the inquiry panel report have triggered a war of words between the ruling BJP at the centre and the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee.

The West Bengal unit of the BJP has alleged a ''conspiracy'' by the TMC goons behind the reported breach in PM Modi's security.

The West Bengal BJP said that the truth behind the collapse of a tent at a rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Midnapore on July 16 has come out only after a central team conducted an inquiry.

"The real truth has come out after the central report. The truth is that neither the local police top brass nor the state PWD officials monitored the arrangements," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh told reporters here.

"The PWD and the state intelligence should have inspected the meeting site, they should have contacted our men entrusted with the organisational aspect of the meeting at Midnapore and inspected the tent," he said.

Ghosh also made slammed the West Bengal Police for not taking the issue of PM Modi's security seriously.

He said this while referring to the probe panel's finding that no rehearsal was done by the police ahead of the event. 

"None of the top police officials had contacted us even half an hour after the incident and it showed how slack they (state administration) were regarding a meeting of the Prime Minister," he said.