Stampedes in Religious Spots

Religious spots attract devotees from far and wide, but what happens when such places ring the death knell? The recent stampede that took place at the Godavari Pushkaralu religious festival in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, has left 27 dead at last count and several injured.

The stampede is reported to have occurred minutes after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu took a dip in the Godavari and left in a bus. Soon after, many pilgrims rushed towards the banks of the Godavari to partake of the holy bath, thus causing the stampede. To save themselves, several devotees were seen clambering atop the gopurams (monumental towers) at the entrance. Predictably, the opposition has blamed the state government for poor security arrangements and the failure of police to control the surging crowd.

This is not the first time that a stampede has left devotees dead at a religious spot. Respective state governments and local authorities are aware of the dates and approximate footfalls a place is likely to generate on the given day of a religious festival. Yet, they fail to take precautions against stampedes.

In October 2013, 89 people were killed in a stampede near Ratan Garh Mata temple in Datia, Madhya Pradesh. The much-revered Kumbh Mela has seen regular stampedes, yet state governments have no answers to offer apart from doling out compensation packages, apologies on Twitter and press conferences and promises to handle such situations in a better fashion next time round. But all is forgotten. Until the next stampede. Regular emergency evacuation drills, by which people can be trained to act in such unfortunate circumstances, are missing from the agenda in most religious spots.

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