Govt apathy, laxity led to tragic deaths

Surging crowds, lined up under a blazing sun, jostling to enter a narrow avenue — a religious bathing festival in Godavari Pushkaralu in Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, where at least 27 were dead and 40 more injured during the stampede for taking holy dip in the Gadavari rivier so that they can cleanse the past sins.

The government apathy and negligence resulted in violation of rules and laxity in conforming to standards at the place of worship where pilgrims gathered in large numbers. No standard operating procedure (SOP) to minimise casualties in the event of a stampede was followed. Medical preparedness is one of the weakest links in crowd disaster management and special attention should be given to it. Disaster management experts feel that the deaths of pilgrims should be a wake-up call to the administration. SOPs have to be location-specific, taking local conditions and requirements into consideration. Based on extensive data collection, they will need to have maps, escape routes and a checklist of whom to call and what to arrange in an emergency.

Risk management strategies to tackle stampedes during religious festivals are quite inadequate and have failed consistently in India because of the large crowds and the widening spread of the venues. It is widely observed that the vulnerability of religious gatherings is aggravated by remote venues or hazard-prone setting, poor facilities, and lack of basic infrastructure.

Javvadi Lakshmana Rao,

49-54-1/2/3, BS Layout,

Visakhapatnam - 530013

Laser show went well; but main show ignored

Pushkaram 2015 commenced with a lot of pilgrim turnout in Rajahmundry; everyone is visiting Rajahmundry for Pushkar Snanm and Pitru Tarpanam. All devotees are returning with a lot of dissatisfaction at the government's failure to organise the event in a proper way. There are several flaws on the part of government arrangements. First, government planning miserably failed in arranging means of transport of devotees from outskirts of city to the bathing ghats. All private vehicles are banned for over 4 km outside the river bank and some free buses are arranged without proper route map which created havoc. There is no idea of which bus will go to which ghat area, as all the people deployed to oversee the bus arrangements are non-local. Even drivers and conductors are not aware of the local routes. This caused frustration to devotees and all started walking on the roads leading to traffic jams. Secondly, at ghats also crowd management is very much improper. At several ghats they made two queue lines one for entry and the other for exit. When the so-called VIPs and VIP pass bearers reached the places they were allowed entrance through exit gates and vice versa. This naturally caused public to protest and force the authorities to allow them also.

Thirdly, police barricaded the ghats unnecessarily which caused prolonged queues and delay in completing the bath at good pace. There are no separate pandals for shrardha karma so people who came for bath and who needed to do the pitru karma had to wait on the bathing ghats itself, which caused space constraints leading to pushing and stampede. Several people lost their lives officially and many are missing. Loss of lives could have been averted if they had put up medical emergency centres at a closer vicinity. Laser shows are well-planned and managed but both government authorities and police ignored the main show management. Sad thing is all these happened in the presence of our visionary chief minister Mr.Chandra Babu Naidu.

Raghu Bhushan Eranki,

Venkatagiri, Hukumpeta, Rajahmundry.

Govt’s utter failure in crowd management

It is heart-wrenching to learn that the starting hours of Mahapushkaram have turned into deadly hours for tens of devotees at the Pushkarghats in Rajahmundry. The human failure factor is evident in averting stampede, as the magnitude of crowd gathering is not unexpected. In a country where large gatherings are regular phenomena, the lack of expertise in crowd management is anathema. The government could have been more vigilant to observe meticulous methods of crowd management like controlling the mob at entry points itself, multiple exits, deploying trained volunteers to direct and disperse the mob in disciplined manner, and using loud speakers to alert the imminent chaos etc. The first day tragedy should be a grim reminder of lacuna in the management for the administration. The rest of the days of Mahapushkaram should be ensured uneventful.

Dr DVG Sankararao,

Prof of Anaesthesiology,

MIMS, Nellimarla, Vizianagaram dist, AP.

Massive crowds drawn to particular ghats

The tragedy occurred at Rajahmundry on the first day of the holy Maha Pushkarams to Godavari river, at the Pushkar Ghat, is really extremely sad. Though the government has been making all necessary arrangements for long, several lives were lost at the Ghat itself, which is more agonizing. There may be unprecedented flow of pilgrims to the Ghat, on this fateful first day, which resulted with this tragedy. The government and Sastra Pandits should make the general public aware of the fact that outcome of the bath in the Godavari river during Pushkarams will be the same, wherever they take bath in the holy waters. Along the entire stretch of Godavari river, the water is same throughout and there is no difference in Punyam that one can attain, on taking bath in the river at any place or any ghat. This sort of concept should be inculcated in the minds of the people at large, so that it will create a sense in them to go to other various and different ghats/places in the area, so that congestion of public at a single spot can be avoided. The government and as well as the religious scholars have, all along, been canvassing about Rajahmundry and recommending a bath in the river Godavari. Had they really concentrated on other places also, the present mishap could have been averted. At the same time, the general public also should have some restraint, when there is a big crowd. Since the CM is stationed at the same place, he must be taking full precautionary measures to make the administration more cautious & alert.

T V Nageswara Rao,

Vinayakanagar, Visakhapatnam.

Take foolproof steps immediately

Fatal scenes and wretched relatives at Rajahmundry Pushkarghats on the very starting day are miserably unfortunate. Not sparing any further for the rest running days of this celestial holy dip ceremony, the entire machinery should act immediately in the interest of pilgrim safety, security and health with regard to infrastructure and amenities. The pilgrims may please be informed and apprised that the puskaram is not for Rajahmundry-bound rivulet, but also to entire 151 ghats of East Godavari and 89 ghats of West Godavari which have also been officially launched in Godavari Maha Puskaram 2015 website. Besides preaching the auspiciousness of 'Puskara punyam’ and other kriyas to be performed, the exemplary pundits may also please apprise the pilgrims on the same sanctity emulated at various traversing points of Godavari in Andhra Pradesh and even Telengana. Taking cognizance of the unfortunate incident, the authorities may please: 1. Arrange route map for the understanding of pilgrims at bus and railway stations; 2. Multi queue lines at Puskaramghat entries avoiding stampede; 3. Seperate ghat for women and old age people; 3. Drinking water arrangements; and 4. Two different entry and exit routes temporarily in the town to avoid traffic chaos on a war-footing basis. This is Pushkaram for ‘Godavari River’ and a prestigious event for the State.

M Janardhan Rao,

23-22-60/1, Sivalayam Street,

Vijayawada-520011.

People reposed faith in govt and lost lives

Following the tragic and heart-wrenching incident of major stampede at the Pushkarghat in Rajahmundry, killing over 30 people, the Telugu speaking people of both the States are more in sorrow than in anger. It’s only the people’s faith in the government and respective authorities over the safety measures and arrangements, which made them blindly go for a holy dip in the River Godavari. The announcements made since one week on the budget allocation, special transport facilities, deputing special squads and paramedical personnel had further enhanced the belief among the pilgrims. One more time, the people learned a lesson that, in practice, neither the political leaders nor the government does anything to safeguard the lives of people during such auspicious occasions and that they are very much capable of securing themselves and their positions by deputing required bodyguards and manpower.

T Sri Kumar,

[email protected]

Must avoid stampedes

The two Telugu state governments have succeeded in grabbing the attention of people on Godavari pushkarams with the help of wide publicity. But, the two governments should concentrate on the arrangements which will avoid stampedes. Further a better co-ordinated effort is required to control big throngs. It is more disturbing to notice that the works which were grounded for the convenience of public are in lacking quality. It is better to promote awareness on sanitation of the premises of Pushkar Ghats which will be more contagious to the pilgrims through media along with pushkar ads.

E Gajendra Nath Reddy,

NGO Colony, Badvel.