27 killed in stampede at Godavari Pushkaralu Ghastly tragedy

No crowd control at Rajahmundry Kotagummam ghat

21 women identified

Massive crowd build-up on day 1

Many trains arrive at same time

Ex-gratia of `10 lakh announced

Naidu orders judicial probe

Rajahmundry: The religious fervour of the Mahapushkaralu was marred at Rajahmundry when 27 persons died in a stampede and over 40 persons were injured in the incident that took place at Kotagummam Puhskar ghat on the opening day of the 12-day Godavari Pushkaralu. Majority of them belong to north coastal Andhra. Among the dead were 21 women.

The tragedy struck on Tuesday morning at around 8am soon after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his family took the holy dip and left the place and had exposed the failure of administration in crowd management. Admitting that some problems had cropped up in execution of instructions given in crowd management, Naidu announced Rs 10 lakh compensation for the families of the deceased and ordered a judicial probe.

Normally on first day of the Pushkaralu and on the last day, huge crowds arrive for a holy dip. The authorities who had studied the pattern of crowd inflow anticipated that the turnout would be heavy as it happens to be once in 144 years ritual but failed in ensuring smooth flow and regulating the crowd. This ghat is close to the Godavari railway station and people believe that taking a holy dip in the river on the first day of the festival was more auspicious. They also prefer this ghat because it has temples nearby.

According to V Satyanarayana, a pilgrim who was at the site, the police had stopped the movement of pilgrims who had entered the barricades.

By that time, thousands of pilgrims who were waiting from midnight in the queue got uneasy and restless and poor crowd management resulted in the stampede.

Another eye witness said the gate of Kotagummam Pushkar ghat was closed as the 700 metre long ghat was full by 6.20 am and large number of people were waiting outside. More people arrived as six more trains reached Godavari station between 6 and 7 am. He said several devotees tried to climb a wall along the ghat while others pushed forward. In the process, some people fell down and got trampled.

There were very few constables at the ghat when the stampede took place. Even lady constables were not there. Narrow roads caused problems in shifting the injured to the hospital. The Hans India photographer B V Ramana Rao was among the injured. He fell unconscious due to suffocation while on duty. The focus of the police and administration was more on the VVIP ghat known as Saraswati ghat.

“It was a frightening situation, with women and children crying for help. The policemen on duty were helpless and it took about three hours to bring the situation under control,” said one of the devotees. With the bodies of victims lying around, relatives wailed and cried for help. Pathetic scenes were witnessed at the government hospital mortuary. Relatives of one of the victims from Vemagiri took away the body forcefully even before the post mortem was done.