Accused Garo MDC shirks responsibility for boat tragedy

TURA: The tragic boat mishap on the Sabang river between Garo Hills and Assam on Sunday evening which took the lives of ten people, including five children, has failed to evoke any remorse from the chief guest of the boat competition and Naguapara MDC Dormonath Ch Sangma.
Sangma has gone to the extent of issuing a statement on Wednesday claiming that the victims were not participants of the boat race but spectators who came to witness the show.
In the statement, the Naguapara MDC displayed his ignorance of human tragedy and lack of remorse for the lives lost when he stated that the “lives lost were not participants of the boat race but were mostly only children that came to see the race”. He added that the site of the tragedy fell on the Assam side of the Jinjiram river when the people were heading back home on boats during the storm.
According to the MDC, the programme was conducted in the Sabang river which connects with Jinjiram and lies in the vicinity of Haribhanga village under Bogularbhita police outpost.“The waters where the boat capsized pertinently falls under Assam side. Since the accidents happened after the program, it signifies that the organisers were not held directly responsible for it,” Sangma said. He also mention that he had attended the programme as chief guest on the request of the organisers and had sponsored prizes. It is alleged that the boat race competition was organised by the same MDC in his daughter’s name with prizes for winners being put up in the range of Rs 20,000, Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 5000.