TV
The people in Odisha woke up to the tragic news of the death of three devotees, who had come for a darshan of the deities of Puri Jagannath temple on three chariots, in front of the Gundicha Temple in the wee hours of Sunday.
The deceased have been identified as Prabhati Das, Basanti Sahu, and Premakanta Mohanty. According to reports, the mishap occurred at around 4:20 AM when an overwhelming crowd of devotees had gathered for darshan of Lord Jagannath and His Siblings.
Though initial reports claimed that over 50 devotees were injured in the stampede, the district administration officials stated that only six persons sustained injuries in the incident.
Eyewitnesses alleged that the situation turned chaotic when two trucks carrying 'charamala' entered an already crowded area, leading to panic and a sudden rush among the devotees.
Eye-Witnesses, Relatives Level Serious Allegation Of Lapses
An eyewitness said, “No official had thought about arrangements for devotees and how charamala could have reached amongst the crowd. Police were only busy making arrangements for VIPs.”
Another eye-witness whose relative died said, “We had come with a happy mood from the village to have a darshan of the deities. Nobody thought such an incident would occur. The administration had not taken any concrete measures. There was wood stacked. My relative died in the mishap. My son had tried to save others. There were no police personnel or other officials to help.”
Another devotee said, “We were moving towards Lord Jagannath’s chariot. Suddenly, a huge crowd started rushing towards us. Only public and devotees were extending help and doing everything. There was nobody there.”
“We had reached in front of the Gundicha temple at around 3:31 am. At that time, there were around 50,000 devotees. When the pahuda opened, there was sudden chaos. Some police personnel who were there escaped from the spot. Around 200-300 people had fallen during the chaos. We told police officials, but they did not help. The administration did not help us. We had to carry our relatives who were injured on our own. The truck entered, and it triggered the situation. Due to this, my wife Basanti Sahu of Bhubaneswar (Khordha district) died,” said the deceased’s husband.
He further alleged, “We cried for help, ambulance and asked for water. But police personnel did not offer even a single drop. There was massive crowd at the spot when the stampede occurred.”
Amidst the allegations, Puri SP Vinit Agrawal claimed that there was deployment of police force at the spot. “We will inform after examining all aspects. There was adequate deployment near the chariots and the Gundicha temple,” said Agrawal.
