Despite preparatory meetings, mock drills, guidelines and massive security arrangements, a stampede-like situation occurred during chariot pulling, resulting in the death of a devotee and several others suffered injuries on Sunday.
Why this happened? Who is responsible? Many such questions are being raised.
The presence of more servitors on chariots than the permitted number is said to be the key reason.
As per the rath guidelines, a maximum of 60 persons including servitors and staff can be there on the Taladhwaja chariot. The same for the Nandighosa and Darpadalana chariots are 70 and 50, respectively.
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But during chariot pulling, these guidelines were blatantly thrown out of the window. There were more people than the permitted number on both Nandighosa and Taladhwaja chariots. Apart from this, there is a rule that no one should be allowed to sit or stand on the fence of the chariots. This rule was also flouted with impunity.
This is the reason why the Taladhwaja chariot was frequently changing directions, aggravating the situation.
The alleged loose cordon system is also being blamed for what happened on Sunday.
As the cordon system allegedly lacked strictness, devotees tried to touch the chariot rope. Some even pulled the cordon rope assuming that it was the chariot rope.
“There was no adequate space to pull chariots. Some were seen running while holding the cordon rope. They might be thinking that they were pulling the chariot rope. This led to the mishap,’ said Surya Narayan Ratha Sharma, a researcher of Jagannath culture.
“It seems there were people other than the servitors on chariots. Because of the presence of so many people on chariots, we couldn’t see the lords to our heart's content,” rued a devotee.
Expressing her concern about the arrangements, a female devotee alleged, “It is not good that people are losing their lives. This is happening because the preparations were not up to the mark.”
Meanwhile, the secretary of Daitapati Nijog termed yesterday’s incident as a common occurrence.
“The crowd was far more than expected. Such happenings during Lord Jagannath’s yatra should not be taken seriously,” said Ramkrushna Dasmohapatra, secretary of the Daitapati Nijog.
On the other hand, DGP Arun Sarangi denied the stampede-like situation as the reason for the death of a devotee.
“No stampede-like situation took place yesterday. The devotee died due to suffocation,” said Sarangi.