BHUBANESWAR: Despite an unprecedented rush of devotees during Rath Yatra, Odisha Police failed to anticipate the crowd surge on Saturday night, hours after the chariots of Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath reached Gundicha Temple.
The chariot-pulling could be completed on the second day with the participation of a huge number of pilgrims but the state police, which had made a massive deployment, was caught napping, literally, when the tragedy struck in the wee hours.
A large number of people visited Puri in the night after the holy Trinity reached Gundicha Temple, to have Their darshan on the chariots. Most of these devotees are drawn from catchment areas and Saturday night was no different. In fact, there were a huge crowd headed towards Puri but despite the presence of technology, surveillance and CCTV, the writing on the wall was missed.
A police officer admitted there was an ‘error’ in assessing the possible gathering of people near Gundicha Temple. “About 20 to 22 sections of police force are generally deployed after the three chariots reach Gundicha shrine but they were outnumbered by the huge gathering,” he added. If sources are to be believed, a DSP-ranked officer with a team was placed at Saradhabali.
However, it was poor coordination and absence of leadership which led to the stampede-like situation. Police sources said, there was heavy rush of vehicles on the highway between Bhubaneswar and Puri on Saturday night. Since it was a weekend, the number was substantially high but the arrangement at near Gundicha Temple was not up to the mark.
Sources said the integrated control room set up at the Town police station reportedly observed the movement of over 40,000 vehicles throughout the night. There was a 2 km-3 km-long line of vehicles which were being diverted through different routes to reach the designated parking places. However, by the time the cops started blocking at Malatipatpur, Talabania and near Sterling Hotel after 12.30 am, thousands of people had already accumulated inside the town, sources said.
The police personnel stationed near Gundicha Temple were not sufficient to handle the influx of visitors in Puri and the deployment could not be augmented in a short time to control the crowd movement effectively.
“The surge should have been anticipated given the weekend. After recording the large traffic, the matter should have been escalated and planned at the highest decision-making level,” said sources familiar with the issue.
What further worsened the situation was that thousands of people stayed put near the temple and waited to witness the ‘pahada’ lifting rituals.
Meanwhile, DGP YB Khurania issued an order stating ADG (modernisation) SK Priyadarshi would remain in overall charge of general police arrangements during the nine-day Rath Yatra.