Tragedy in
puri Sri Jagannath Rath Yatra. Three devotees lost their lives and more than 50 others were injured in a stampede at the temple. The tragedy, which took place from
saturday night to
sunday morning, has created panic among thousands of devotees participating in the yatra. According to details revealed by
puri district collector siddharth Shankar, after the Jagannath Rath
yatra on
saturday, the chariots reached the
sharada Bali near the Gundicha temple. At 4:20 am on
sunday, thousands of devotees came forward at once to have darshan of the deities of Jagannath Swamy, Balabhadra, and Subhadramma on chariots, resulting in a stampede.
Three
people, Premakanta Mohanty (80), Basanti Sahu (36) and Prabhati Das (42), died in this accident. More than 50
people were injured, 12 of whom are being treated at a special hospital in Cuttack. The remaining injured were given basic treatment in
puri and some were discharged.
government response
odisha Minister
prithviraj Harichandan expressed shock over the incident. He ordered a high-level inquiry into this tragic incident. He said that there is a need to clarify the security lapses. A large number of devotees turned up for the
puri Rath
yatra on Saturday. Problems like high temperatures, crowding, and lack of infrastructure caused severe hardship to the devotees. Around 750 devotees were rushed to nearby hospitals after they fell ill due to fatigue and dehydration. Security forces responded immediately shifted the injured to hospitals and effectively controlled the situation. Questions are now being raised about the shortcomings in the advance arrangements for the Rath Yatra. Devotees and public representatives are demanding that strong measures be taken to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.