At least ten pilgrims, including a woman, were killed and over 50 injured in a stampede near the Baidyanathdham temple in the wee hours of Monday, as several devotees lined up for special prayers during the auspicious Shravan month suddenly surged forward breaking the queue. The tragic incident took place around 4.30 am near Balabagan More on Deoghar-Jasidih crossing, about eight km away from the temple.
According to eyewitnesses, the tragedy took place when word spread that the temple doors were being opened. Some of the waiting devotees tried to jump the queue which led to the stampede.
“The line of pilgrims was over 10 km long. The devotees were resting and waiting for the temple gates to be opened, when someone began shouting that the doors had opened. This lead to total chaos as people began jostling to get ahead. Some of the devotees lost their footing in the melee and were crushed to death underfoot,” said Eloes lakra, CEO of Deoghar Municipal Corporation.
Five of the victims have been identified as Kalika Prasad and Ram Pravesh Kesri from Uttar Pradesh, Praduman Gupta of Forbesganj, Araria of Bihar, Sunil Sharma of Kalahandi, Odisha and Vivek Kumar of Kanpur.
“Majority of the people killed are from other States. Most of the injured have been admitted to Sadar Hospital in Deoghar for treatment while four persons have been referred to RIMS for advanced treatment,” Deoghar Public Relations Officer Bindeshwari Prasad Jha, told The Pioneer.
The tragedy is being aggravated to the grave mismanagement in regulating the flow of devotees. There was no barricading, the lighting was poor at the entry point and deputation of personnel was also inadequate despite the fact that over one lakh devotees were in the line.
The task of the management became even more difficult due to a power cut in the area. Following the incident, the already outnumbered policemen and volunteers tried their best to manage things but were forced to flee from the scene as they could not manage the panic-stricken crowd.
“The gate was opened and people fell on each other in the mad rush in the dark,” Diwakar Kamath, erstwhile Civil Surgeon of Deoghar told The Pioneer.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das expressed grief over the incident and directed the authorities to provide free medical care to the injured. “It is a very tragic incident and I express my sympathy to the families of the deceased. We have formed a high-level committee headed by Home Secretary NN Pandey that will investigate all aspects and present a report. Any further action would be taken based on the report,” said the Chief Minister who also briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after the incident.
“Pained at the loss of lives due to the stampede in Jharkhand. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased in this hour of grief,” Modi said on twitter.
Meanwhile, the four-member committee headed by Pandey, comprising Rural Development Secretary MR Meena, Additional Director-General of Police SN Pradhan and Director Health Services Sumant Mishra recommended suspension of top officials of Deoghar administration.
“The team visited the place and probed the incident. It has conveyed its impression to the Government and the decision to suspend DC Amit Kumar and SP P Murugan for negligence of duty, with immediate effect has been taken. Also, grave negligence on part of the hospital administration was also found and Regional Deputy Director of Health S Prasad and Civil Surgeon Diwakar Kamath have been suspended,” said Pandey.
The Government has also announced Rs 2 lakh as ex-gratia to kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those injured.
The Government opened helpline numbers 06432-232299/240577/232295/291274. However, one of the two helpline numbers turned out to be of Hotel Yatrik (232299) while another (232295) remained busy and out of reach throughout the day.
Meanwhile, making a statement in the lok Sabha on the stampede, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said two Rapid Action Force companies (around 200 personnel) are being sent to Deoghar for better crowd and security management in addition to the Central Armed Police Forces already deployed in the State.
The Home Minister said the Chief Minister informed him that 11 people have lost their lives in the incident. He expressed grief over the loss of lives and conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the families of those killed in the tragedy.
Earlier, Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav of RJD and Nishikant Dubey of BJP raised the issue and said there were very little facilities for devotees at the Deogarh temple where thousands gather to offer prayers.
Both of them demanded that the area be developed and proper facilities be offered to the pilgrims to prevent such incidents in future.