At the outset, our heartfelt condolences for the bereaved families whose dear ones could not return home safe and happy after culmination of their pilgrimage, from the Holy shrine of Shree Mata Vaishno Devi. We also wish a speedy recovery of all those who got injured in the stampede in the shrine and are hospitalised or are undergoing treatment at home. We also note that people are deeply hurt and shocked over the incident and condolence messages, as a natural corollary, have been pouring in from all including the top political leadership of the country as also various social , cultural and religious bodies.
At least as many as 12 people lost their lives , mostly those who were stated to be sleeping on the floor and 16 injured in the same way at around 2.45 am on January 1 as a result of an alleged altercation between some young pilgrims and the pushes and the shoves that ensued resulted in the long and congested queues getting disarrayed resulting in the stampede crushing the people who mostly were taken unawares. We , however, note with satisfaction that ex-gratia of Rs 12 lakh has been sanctioned by the UT Government in favour of the next of the kin of the victims as also Rs.2 lakh by the Prime Minister to the families of the victims and Rs.50000 to the injured ones.
Most of the people killed were reported to be in their early twenties and thirties suggesting that during the dead of night and in these harsh winter days mostly young pilgrims wanting to have the ”Darshan” as fast as possible and pushing one another helter – skelter to make the way leading to altercation, scuffle and the resultant semblance and order becoming the casualty. The UT Government of Jammu and Kashmir having ordered a high level enquiry into the incident , undoubtedly, will reveal all that led to such a chaotic situation but what about those who are supposed to be on duty round the clock to maintain proper order and discipline and monitor orderly movement of pilgrims towards the sanctum sanctorum? When the Shrine Board Authorities saw that the rush was unusual and needed extra care and careful monitoring , why did they not take proper care and steps to pre-empt any possibility of occurring of an untoward incident?
We note that there is no dearth of funds or resources with the Shrine Board which means it can institute and employ all possible measures and means to regulate the pilgrimage especially when there are occasions of heavy rush and also keeping in view the grave threat of Omicron looming large and infected cases increasing in the country. That puts a question to the management of the shrine as to how pilgrims were allowed to be so close to one another and the queues being so thick violating the COVID precautionary protocol that the stampede occurred.
We have generally always been very positively commenting upon the steps regularly being taken by the Shrine Board in respect of constantly bringing about improvement in the facilities provided to the pilgrims but such an unfortunate but heart rending incident has cast deep shadows on the management of the Shrine Board along with the security personnel ”deployed” there in not visualising the implications of heavy rush of pilgrims and not employing such means and ways which were quite necessary to regulate the movement of the pilgrims. Heads must roll after fixing of accountability for the inexcusable goof and lapse so that confidence and trust in the general public especially of the pilgrims is restored and maintained.
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