A major accident took place during the immersion of the idol of Maa Durga in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. During the idol immersion, 8 people were washed away in the Mal river due to sudden floods. Everyone died. 20-25 people are still missing. There is resentment among the local people due to the apathy of the administration in the search of missing people. Many people who were in the grip of the accident have been admitted to the hospital. The DM of the district reached the hospital and inquired about the well being of the victims. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition leader of the state assembly, Shubhendu Adhikari, tweeted and condoled the incident, describing it as a shameful incident. The meeting is being held at the administrative level since Thursday morning.

There has been a big disclosure in this accident in Jalpaiguri. When the water level was rising during the idol immersion in the Mal river, only eight security personnel were present at the ghat. However, thousands of people were present at the ghat at that time. Civil Defense personnel have told that the security personnel had no other means other than rope to deal with the accident. In this accident, 8 people died due to drowning during idol immersion.

Locals have complained that the course of the Mal river has been diverted. There was no rescue team at the spot during the incident. Witnesses said that we had told that the water level is rising. Even after that the immersion of idols continued. Had the immersion been stopped in time, such a big accident would not have happened. According to the information, all the goods of the rescue operation were kept in the front office, not on the ghat. The first thing you need after the accident is a searchlight, but then the searchlight was not on the pier. A searchlight was called from the office and after that the rescue operation was started. Local people have accused the administration of negligence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief over this accident. He wrote in a tweet, 'I am hurt by the accident during idol worship in Jalpaiguri. Deepest condolences to the families of those killed in the accident. The administration has released the list of the dead. The names of the deceased are Tapan Adhikari (72), Urmi Saha (13), Rumur Saha (42), Anas Pandit (8), Chirayu Devi (28), Subhashish Raha (63), Shobhandeep (20) and Sushmita Poddar (22). 

Compensation has been announced by the Central Government for the families of the victims killed in the floods in Mal river of Malbazar. The Prime Minister's Office has said that financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each will be given to the next of kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the treatment of the injured. The PMO gave this information by tweeting on Thursday morning.

Local people allege that a truck was washed away in the Mal river about 14 days ago. It has been raining continuously since then. Despite this, the administration did not make elaborate security arrangements during the idol immersion. Even precautionary steps were not taken. Had the administration been a little more cautious, 8 people would not have died in the flash floods. Civil defense personnel say that there were no adequate security arrangements. At least 65-70 Durga idols were to be immersed in the Mal river on the night of Dashami. Thousands of people had reached the river bank for the idol immersion. The administration had information that the crowd of people could increase. Despite this, only 8 security personnel of the Civil Defense were posted on river bank duty.