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| Tragic Incident | | | In a tragic incident at the start of this year, 12 people lost lives who hailed from Uttar Pradesh (7), New Delhi (3), Haryana (1) and Rajouri, J&K (1), while sixteen others were injured in stampede at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Katra.
While police have blamed an altercation for the unfortunate incident and vowed to take action against those involved, the government set up a committee, headed by the Principal Secretary (Home) Shaleen Kabra, with ADGP Jammu Zone and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu as its members, to investigate the incident. The panel has been directed to submit its report in a week. The tragedy happened “due to a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims”, the shrine’s board said.
It is true that it was the first tragedy at the shrine but there have been several instances of similar mishaps in shrines across the country. The worst of it happened in the vicinity of Ratangarh temple in Madhya Pradesh on October 13, 2013, which led to the loss of 115 lives while more than 100 others were injured. More often than not, the stampedes are a result of administrative mismanagement, the police’s inability to control crowds, and the failure of pilgrims to follow movement protocols.
In Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine episode, too, people allege that pilgrims were allowed without registration and that there were no barricades to demarcate those going in and out of the sanctum sanctorum’s narrow gate.
In the aftermath of the incident, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on January 2 chaired a special meeting of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) at Raj Bhavan and as per the official press statement “critically” reviewed the causative factors leading to the stampede incident.
A slew of directives were issued for physical and systematic improvements wherever required and among others include effective crowd management, augmentation of infrastructure, making booking of yatra 100% through online mode; working out plans for decongestion of the entire track, particularly the Bhawan area, separation of entry and exit routes at Bhawan.
While these measures seem to be in right earnest, one hopes that they are not restricted to paper only. There is a need for employing technical experts and adopting best crowd management practices to prevent such incidents in future. It is also expected that the probe panel makes earnest efforts to find the truth and bring to fore all reasons behind the incident and also come up with the measures to ensure that 1 January 2021 remains only an aberration in times to come. |
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