Due to the crowd of devotees at Saptashrungi Gad on the occasion of Chaitrotsav, a stampede-like situation was created on Thursday. Due to the huge crowd of devotees coming for the darshan, the crowd management planning went wrong. As a result, a stampede-like situation occurred near the first step.
There was a sudden increase in the number of devotees since Wednesday night, leading to a stampede-like situation near the first step of the temple on Thursday.
The temple administration, police, and disaster management were overwhelmed by the crowd. Barricades were placed on the darshan path to ease access. However, the barricades broke at some places, resulting in a stampede-like situation. As a result, children and the elderly had to suffer. Devotees expressed their displeasure against the police and Saptashrungi Gad management for poor crowd planning.
The enthusiastic devotees chanted “Adimaya” and “Ambe Mata Ki Jai,” filling the entire fort area with devotion. However, the increased crowd also disrupted business for traders in Bhavani Chowk. Chaitrotsav is currently underway at Saptashrungi Fort. This festival, which started from Gudi Padwa, continues till Hanuman Jayanti. For the last two to three days, a large number of devotees have been visiting from across the state.
Although the administration has held two to three meetings to plan for the crowd, the decisions are not being implemented properly. Therefore, it seems that the administration is falling short when effective crowd planning is most needed. A huge crowd of devotees gathered near the first step of Saptashrungi. An attempt was made to control the crowd by putting up barricades at that location. However, the crowd was so large that the attempt failed.
At this spot, it was necessary to have one line for devotees going for darshan and another for those returning. Also, separate planning was required for the crowd around the nearby shops. But since no such arrangements were made, it is said that a stampede-like situation arose at this location.
While speaking with the Free Press Journal, Sarpanch of the village has, however, denied that
