'Stampede' Outside Srimandir A Wake-Up Call! Govt's Empathy Would Mitigate Pilgrim Plight In Puri

What devotees coming to Srimandir are missing is sensitivity and empathy. The stampede-like situation on Holi Purnima seems to be a wakeup call. Devotees do deserve a lot more respect and attention and it is the bounden duty of the state government to ensure this without delay.

'Stampede' Outside Srimandir A Wakeup Call! Govt's Empathy Would Mitigate Pilgrim Plight In Puri

After Covid-related restrictions on entering temples were lifted, number of devotees visiting famous shrines in India has been increasing. Around sixty thousand pilgrims visit Tirumalai now in a day. Vaishno Devi, Badrinath and Kedarnath too have now many more pilgrims. Over the years, more and more pilgrims are visiting Temples. While Vaishno Devi had 13 lakh visitors in 1986, the shrine has about 80 lakh pilgrim count now. A million devotees visited Kedarnath in 2019. On 10th of June in 2019, over 36,000 visited the Temple. Sabarimala attracts 40 to 50 million devotees in a year. That Jagannath Dham Puri would attract more devotees for darshan is therefore only natural.

Of late, reports have come in about inconvenience devotees have experienced in gaining entry into the Srimandir. Visuals of  thousands of devotees including children and ladies standing for hours in hot sun and waiting for their turn to get inside the temple convey a distressing picture. The line of devotees have become far too long. On Phagu Purnima on the 18th of this month, the situation turned chaotic as exasperated devotees created a 'stampede' near Singhadwar (the entrance to the temple) to witness Suna Besha of Holy Trinity.