BHUBANESWAR: The grief-stricken family members of the deceased and other devotees attributed the Saradhabali stampede to administrative negligence, inadequate crowd control measures and lack of police presence.
The incident took place at around 4 am on Sunday when thousands of devotees had gathered near the Gundicha Temple to catch a glimpse of the Trinity on their chariots, prior to their ‘Adapa Mandap Bije’. However, chaos reportedly ensued when two trucks carrying the ‘charamala’ for the ‘Adapa Mandap Pahandi’ entered the crowded area.
“Mismanagement was clearly evident at the site and I lost my wife only because of the failure of the administration in managing the crowd,” alleged Dillip Kumar Sahu from Gobardhanpur area of Bolagarh in Khurda, whose wife Basanti Kumari Sahu (42) was one of those killed in the tragic stampede.
Sahu claimed that a large crowd of devotees was waiting for darshan of the deities after the ‘pahada’ lifting ritual was over at 4 am. “There were about 40,000 to 50,000 people near the chariots. However, in spite of such huge gathering, a truck was allowed to entre the site, forcing people to split. This triggered a chaos and about 300 people fell on the ground,” he said.
He alleged that no police or rescue teams were present when the incident occurred and the initial response to the tragedy came from other devotees. “I cried for help, but the personnel on duty ran away to save themselves,” Sahu alleged. In the absence of any support, Sahu said he along with his family members had to carry Basanti for about half a kilometre to the ambulance.
An elderly woman who also lost her daughter to the stampede, also claimed there were no police at the site when they were pushed by the crowd. “A man dragged me out of the trampled group. However, my daughter couldn’t be saved,” she cried.
Recounting the horror, Swadhin Kumar Panda, a local resident, said there were several gaps in crowd management which resulted in the stampede. He alleged that a new passage was made for the VIPs at the existing place of exit and common people were asked to move out from a distance. “This prompted many to take shortcut and exit from the entrance itself, leading to overcrowding at the place. The traffic management was also abysmal as unauthorised vehicles kept coming close to the temple,” Panda alleged.
