India News | Sunstroke Deaths: Maha Minister Says Award Event Timing Was Given by Dharmadhikari

Mumbai, Apr 17 (PTI) The timing for the Maharashtra Bhushan award event in Kharghar in Navi Mumbai, in which 13 persons died due to sunstroke, was suggested by awardee Appasaheb Dharmadhikari, said state minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sudhir Mungantiwar on Monday.

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Thirteen people died and several others are hospitalised due to sunstroke and other health complications after several lakh people, mostly followers of Dharmadhikari, attended the event under the scorching summer sun in the sprawling International Corporate Park on Sunday.

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The state government has come under severe criticism from the opposition parties as well as netizens for holding the event in such a grand scale in the morning neglecting the oppressive summer conditions.

Speaking to a regional news channel, Mungantiwar said, “Appasaheb Dharmadhikari had given us the timing and the event was planned accordingly. Politics should not be brought into everything.”

Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut had alleged the event was held in the morning for the convenience of Union Home Minister Amit Shah for political gains.

Shah had left for Goa on Sunday afternoon where he addressed a rally that kicked off the BJP's 2024 Lok Sabha campaign in the coastal state.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole had sought a case of culpable homicide against the "inhuman" Eknath Shinde government over the deaths at the Kharghar event.

Incidentally, in a press statement issued a day after the event, Dharmadhikari had said the deaths were "painful".

"The death of people due to sunstroke is painful for me. I feel like having lost someone from my family. I expect this incident should not be politicised in any way," he said.

"I am personally pained to see some people who are like my family members losing their lives due to sunstroke. It is like a calamity in my family. We all are together in this tragedy. The incident is very unfortunate," Dharmadhikari further said.

Dharmadhikari, 76, has a massive following in the state due to his tree plantation drives, blood donation and medical camps as well as de-addiction work in tribal areas conducted under the aegis of his organisation 'Shree Sadasya'.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)