Stampede at Chamunda Devi temple kills 147 devotees

Jodhpur, Sept 30 (PTI) Nearly 150 people were crushed to
death and 55 others injured in a stampede early Tuesday
morning caused by a rush of devotees in the Chamunda Devi
temple in the 15th century Mehrangarh Fort on a hillock here
on the first day of Navaratri festival.


In a virtual repeat of the Naina Devi temple stampede
in Himachal Pradesh on August 3, in which 162 people were
killed, 147 devotees, mostly men, died when they were trampled
upon by other pilgrims as doors of the temple opened for
worship at dawn, according to Divisional Commissioner,
Jodhpur, Kiran Soni Gupta.


She said four of the injured were in a critical
condition. Over 1,000 people, mostly locals, had gathered
from shortly after midnight for a glimpse of the Deity at the
start of the Navaratri festival.

Different versions have cropped up over the reason for
the stampede with one saying that there was a scramble on the
narrow 2-km path for gaining entry to the hillock shrine in
the Fort run by the family of erstwhile ruler Gaj Singh.

The casualties occurred in the queue meant for men
while that for the women and children was unaffected,
officials said.

In a similar tragedy three years ago, 340 devotees
were trampled to death during an annual pilgrimage at the
Mandradevi temple in Maharashtra.

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said there
was a huge rush in the queue for men and some people slipped
causing panic and stampede.

Director General of Police K.S. Bains said there was
a power failure and some people slipped on the ramp leading to
the shrine which caused the trampling. However, he denied as
incorrect that there were rumours of a bomb blast.

Eyewitnesses said as some devotees slipped on the
75-metre slope, others fell on each other causing stampede.

"Many of those killed died due to suffocation as a
result of the stampede," Principal Secretary (Home) S.N.
Thanvi said in Jaipur.

15 to 20 people were killed on the stop and the others
succumbed to their injuries in various hospitals including
Mahatma Gandhi, Mathuradas Mathur and Sun City Hospitals here,
officials said.

Chief Minister Vasudhara Raje, who visited the tragedy
site, ordered an inquiry into the incident and announced a
compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of the kin of the
dead and Rs 50,000 for the seriously injured.

Officials said the situation went out of control as
devotees, carrying offerings, jostled with each other and
tried to rush towards the temple doors breaking the
barricades.

Inspector General of Police, Jodhpur, Rajiv Dasod
said some of the devotees slipped on a 75-metre-long slope
on the temple path causing the stampede in the 100-metre
zone around it.

"There has been no casualty in the queue for women
in which a large number of children were also present," he
said.

The injured were rushed to hospitals in police
vehicles and ambulances, Dasod said, adding that the whole
areas was evacuated within an hour.

Some eyewitness told police that a side wall of the
temple had also collapsed due to pressure from the large
number of devotees.