3 dead, over 20 injured in stampede outside Gundicha Temple
Bhubaneswar: At a time when most were asleep, a small corner in Puri was awake to the sounds of cymbals and gongs and chants of 'Jai Jagannath'. As nearly 20,000 devotees jostled for space at 4 am for a glimpse of the sibling deities, a stampede broke out, killing three and leaving scores injured.
The devotees had gathered for a darshan of the deities atop the chariots outside Gundicha Temple on Sunday, the third day of Rath Yatra. But the chants soon turned into cries of despair as devotees rushed in to have a closer look of the deities, triggering a stampede.
Among the dead were Premakanta Mohanty (78), a retired state govt employee from Nayapalli area in Bhubaneswar, as well as Basanti Sahu (42) from Khurda district, and Prabhati Das (52) of Balianta in Bhubaneswar.
Both the women were housewives.
All three had travelled to Puri with family members to have a glimpse of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra atop the chariots before they were moved to Gundicha Temple.
More than 20,000 devotees had pressed into a space meant for 5,000-6,000, raising serious question mark on the crowd management measures undertaken by the Puri administration.
Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi reacted swiftly.
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Terming the 'negligence' as 'unforgivable', Majhi transferred Puri district collector Siddharth Shankar Swain and SP Vinit Agrawal and suspended DCP-ranked officer Vishnu Prasad Pati and commandant Ajay Kumar Padhi for dereliction of duty.
The CM, who had instructed the govt machinery to ensure an 'incident-free' Rath Yatra, also apologised to Jagannath devotees for the incident and ordered a high-level administrative inquiry, led by development commissioner Anu Garg.
Majhi also announced compensation of Rs 25 lakh for families of each victim.
According to eyewitnesses, the situation worsened when two trucks carrying wooden ladders for the chariots tried to enter the crowded area. "The narrow congregation site, combined with insufficient police presence and scattered palm log ladders near the chariots, resulted in the stampede," Chinmay Patra, an eyewitness, said.
A state govt ministerial committee, which was recently formed to oversee Rath Yatra arrangements, visited Puri to assess the situation.
The govt deputed Khurda district collector Chanchal Rana and STF DIG Pinak Mishra as Puri's new collector and SP in the middle of Rath Yatra festival, which will conclude on July 8 with Niladri Bije.
The opposition BJD and Congress slammed the govt over the incident. Former chief minister Naveen Patnaik criticised the "abysmal failure of crowd management" in an X post, while Congress MP Rahul Gandhi stated that "no lapses in this responsibility are acceptable."
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