With tragic death of three devotees and at least 50 others injured in a stampede near Sri Gundicha Temple in Odisha’s Puri during Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra early Sunday, sparking shock waves across the State and exposing the alleged gaping holes in the efficiency of government machinery, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi issued a statement tending apology. He ordered an administrative inquiry and suspended two police officers of Superintendent of Police rank.
The corrective measures and cracking whips on the officers in charge of Rath Yatra observance were very much on the cards given the fact the BJP Government in the State was on the line of fire due to the inordinate delay in the pulling of chariots, stampede-like situation and indiscriminate distribution of cordon passes during the nine-day annual festival of Lord Jagannath that commenced on Friday.
Expressing deep regret over the stampede deaths, Chief Minister Majhi had tendered an apology over it and owned moral responsibility for today’s tragic death.
A high-level administrative inquiry has been constituted under the stewardship of the development commissioner (an officer of chief secretary rank) to detect the lapses and negligence on the part of the authorities. Besides the Collector and SP, Puri has been removed from the temple town with immediate effect.
Two police officers — Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bishnu Pati, and Commandant Ajay Padhee — were placed under suspension for failure on their part to effectively carry out the crowd management.
“The Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath is the pride of Odisha. Negligence in discharging duty will not be tolerated. All those responsible for today’s stampede will be meted out exemplary punishment”, Chief Minister Majhi said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the State Government has announced Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia compensation to bereaved families who lost their loved ones in the stampede. The three victims – Basanti Sahu, Premakant Mohanty and Pravati Das- died of asphyxiation as the crowd trampled over them.
“My government and I seek an apology from all Jagannath devotees. We express our condolences to the families of those devotees whose lives were lost at Sharadhabali and pray to Mahaprabhu Jagannath to imbibe them the strength to bear with the loss of their near and dear ones,” the CM said in a statement.
The Opposition BJD and Congress strongly criticised the BJP Government here for ”abysmal failure” on the part of the government to control the crowd.
BJD President Naveen Patnaik, assailing the government, said the incident laid bare the glaring failure to ensure a safe and orderly Rath Yatra for devotees.
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of the three devotees who have lost their lives in the tragic stampede at Saradhabali, Puri, and I pray to Mahaprabhu Jagannatha for the swift recovery of the devotees injured in this devastating incident”, Naveen Patnaik stated in ‘X’.
The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee Bhakta Charan Das also commenting on the same line lambasted the government.
The mishap took place at around 4.20 am in front of three chariots of Lord Jagannath and His siblings—Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. Poor crowd management and inadequate police deployment resulted in the tragic mishap.
There was no presence of police or security forces anywhere near the chariots as the crowd surged to catch a glimpse of the deities during the morning hours. It was some of the devotees and local youths who tried to control the crowd and saved several people from getting stuck in the stampede. But for their timely voluntary act, the death toll might have been much higher, said eyewitnesses.