TURA: While the immersion procession on Dashami was taking place simultaneously in different parts of Garo Hills, tragedy struck in the border village of Purakhasia when a 10 year old boy who was part of the procession fell from the truck only to be crushed under its wheels.
The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon at Borjora village of Purakhasia, between Dalu in West Garo Hills and Salmanpara in South West Garo Hills district.
The child, Sachin Koch (10) was riding along with a group of children atop the truck carrying the idols of the goddess Durga for the immersion when he suddenly fell off and the back wheels of the truck ran over him leading to his death.
Lack of any proper coordination and supervision by adults is said to have been one of the reasons for children hopping into trucks to take part in the rituals without the presence of an adult.
Similar scenes were witnessed even in Tura during the immersion procession with hordes of young children, some as young as 8-10 years, standing atop trucks without any adult supervision.
Swachh Bharat goes for a toss: It was a scene that would have given nightmares to the green campaigners of Swachh Bharat as the streets of Tura were left strewn with garbage all along the immersion route on Tuesday evening.
From Tura bazaar all the way to the Babupara immersion ghat, over 2 kms in distance, hundreds of empty plastic water bottles and packets of chips were left behind by the revellers turning the entire stretch an eyesore for commuters.
The Central Puja Committee with support from the district administration had put in place several dustbins along the route but it evidently failed to discourage litterers who threw garbage across both sides of the road. It was ultimately left to the Tura Municipality Teams to mop things up.
Members of the CPC inform that every puja mandap was briefed about the procession and the need to ensure no litter takes place, but apparently not everyone heeded the call.
