Rautahat, August 28

The kin of victims of the boat capsize incident in Lal Bakaiya River today lodged a complaint with the district administration of Rautahat seeking action against Pappu Construction, whose negligence they blamed for the accident.

Kishor Chanau and others submitted a written complaint to Chief District Officer Govind Prasad Rijal seeking action against the owner of Pappu Construction Hari Narayan Rauniyar. “As the accident happened due to negligence of Pappu Construction, which failed to complete the bridge even four years after it signed a contract. The company should be responsible for the deaths and provide compensation to families of the deceased,” said Chanau.

On Saturday, a boat carrying 29 people had capsized in the river after it collided with a pillar of the bridge that hadn’t been completed all these years at about 7:00pm. The boat had left for Tikuliyaghat from Auraiyaghat. While nine had swum to safety, 15 were rescued by security personnel. Of the five others who went missing, four bodies were recovered so far. One person is still missing.

On his part, CDO Rijal confirmed that a complaint had been filed. “Yes, a complaint has been filed, and we’ve also written to the district police office to arrest the proprietor of the company and produce him at the administration office,” he said.