By IANS
Udaipur : Villages in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district are in a state of shock after 85 people from the district were killed in a road accident while they were on a pilgrimage.
The accident occurred at around 8 p.m. Friday when a truck carrying about 150 pilgrims, mostly from poor families, fell into a 30-foot-deep gorge in Desuri, about 150 km from Udaipur in southern Rajasthan.
The pilgrims were on their way to the holy town of Ramdevara in Jaisalmer district. An annual fair held there in August-September is attended by thousands of devotees who travel from all over Rajasthan and beyond.
Most of the people who died in the accident were from the Bhava, Soniyana, Duliyana and Maddi villages of Rajsamand district, around 100 km from here.
A pall of gloom shrouded the villages as the news of the accident broke in late Friday. In some of the villages, entire families have been wiped out while others have lost their earning members.
“I do not know what to say. I have lost my son. He was just 20, an earning member of the family. It has shaken us up badly,” said Ram Gujjar, a man in his late 50s.
“We have lost two members of our family. I do not have any words to describe the loss,” said Soni, with tears in her eyes.
Reflecting back on the start of the journey, a resident of Madri village said: “Everything was fine when the villagers proceeded from here. We had a party and were hoping that they would bring prasad for us from the shrine”.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Home Minister G.C. Kataria visited the families of those killed in the accident to express their condolence.
“I pray to god to make the grieved families strong. I have also asked the officials to identify if there are some children whose parents were killed in the accident. We want to provide them all help,” Raje said.
“I don’t remember any road accident of this magnitude in which 85 people have lost their lives,” Kataria said.
The government has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs.50,000 each to the next of kin of the deceased.