Bhubaneswar: A tragic stampede occurred during the Jagannath Rath Yatra at Puri, leaving 3 people dead and more than 50 injured. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced 25 lakhs in compensation to the family of the deceased and ordered a high-level inquiry.
This occurred early morning on Sunday near Saradhabali in front of Shree Gundicha Temple, in front of which the throng of devotees who queued up to have a glimpse of Lord Jagannath on the Nandighosh chariot surged up. The 36-year-old Basanti Sahoo, the 80-year-old Premakanta Mohanty, and the 42-year-old Prabhati Das were found dead due to the uncontrolled stampede. More than 50 others had been injured, of whom the Puri District Hospital had six in critical condition.
Chief Minister Mohan Majhi stated that he was deeply grieved as well as apologised personally and on behalf of the government regarding this pure negligence, which is not acceptable. He declared 25 lakh rupees as financial support to the next of kin of all those devotees who lost their lives and expressed his condolences to their families. Rath Yatra is the pride of the Odia identity. Even a lapse is unacceptable. Majhi would be severely dealt with.
The state government directed an administrative inquiry by the development commissioner to probe the incident in detail. In immediate retaliation, the district collector and superintendent of police of Puri were shifted, their names being Siddharth S. Swain and Vinit Agarwal, respectively. The new district collector was Chanchal Rana, and the new SP was Pinak Mishra. Also, Deputy Commissioner of Police Vishnu Pati and Commandant Ajay Padhi were suspended on grounds of dereliction of duty.
Eyewitnesses attributed the crowd control to limited exit points and the staging of two trucks in the already congested place as some of the factors that sparked the frenzy. It was blamed by the former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who said on X, the stampede, that the issue exposes the absolute incompetence in managing a crowd. However, the Odisha Police had stated that their objective was zero casualties, which portrayed their security operation one day back.
This devastating accident has brought critical issues regarding the measures in place for safety during the world-famous festival, which attracted lakhs of devotees every year. During investigations, the government has to take steps so that there can be no incident similar to this in the future and the pilgrims at this holy occasion can be safe.