A day after a stampede claimed 27 lives and injured more than 60 people, lakhs of pilgrims took a holy dip in the Godavari at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh amid strict security arrangements and under the watchful eyes of the administration. However, the political recriminations have begun over the tragedy with Opposition parties demanding the resignation of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu holding him responsible for the disaster on the first day of the Pushkaram.
learning a quick lesson from the Rajahmundry incident, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had a review meeting with the Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma and other top officials to ensure foolproof arrangements at all the major bathing points starting from Basar in Adilabad to Bhadrachalam in Khammam district. Special emphasis was also being laid at Dharmpuri and Kaleswaram where pilgrims had turned up in large numbers.
Unlike Andhra Pradesh, where the pilgrims were largely concentrated on a small bank of the river in the congested city of Rajahmundry, pilgrims of Pushkaram in Telangana were spread over several districts.
However, AP administration actively encouraged the pilgrims not to focus only on Rajahmundry Ghat but head to several other points in the east and west Godavari districts also.
The Opposition Congress, and YSRCP have said that the stampede was a result of tardy planning and failure of the administration to foresee the problems. Holding Naidu responsible, the political opponents said that the ordinary pilgrims were held back for three hours to give a free passage to the VIPs, especially the CM and his family leading to the rush that resulted in the stampede.
Congress leader and film star Chiranjeevi said that the police and administration, instead of focusing on the arrangements for the pilgrims were busy serving the VIPs. Chiranjeevi, who broke down on seeing the victims of the stampede, asked, “Will Naidu take responsibility for these deaths”IJ
YS Jaganmohan Reddy, president of YSCRP, demanded Naidu’s resignation on moral grounds. “The probe ordered by the Government will not serve any purpose other than covering up the failures of the Government and the CM”, he said, after visiting the injured at the hospital. “The devotees were locked up for three hours till Naidu and his family had a bath”, he alleged.
Naidu, who was upset over the first day’s incident visited various bathing points past midnight and supervised the overhauling of the arrangements. He vented his ire over the negligence of the officials. He also became emotional during his visit to the hospital and meeting the family members of the deceased. “Please forgive me if there were loopholes in the arrangements”, a tearful Naidu told them.
The preliminary probe in to the causes of the stampede pointed out that only one entry and exit gate was provided at the main Pushkar Ghat at Rajahmundry leading to the flow of pilgrims in both the direction creating a jam leading to the pushing and jostling and finally to the deadly tragedy.
On Wednesday, Naidu camped at the police control room to monitor the flow of the pilgrims. Police installed 177 CCTV cameras to monitor the traffic. State Minister Narayana, who was monitoring the situation from the control room said, “Though the turnout of the pilgrims is 31% more than Tuesday, the flow is smooth. Police have ensured that the people follow queue system to reach the bathing points”, he said.