Goa temple stampede: Committee blames admin, police, crowd

Panaji: A committee which conducted an inquiry into the stampede at a temple in Goa has held the district administration, police, temple committee and the crowd behaviour collectively responsible for the tragedy.

Six persons died and more than a hundred others were injured after a stampede broke out during an annual festival at Shree Devi Lairai temple at Shirgao village in North Goa district in the early hours of May 3.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had appointed a fact-finding committee led by secretary (revenue) Sandip Jacquies to go into the reasons.

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Making its report public on Tuesday, Sawant said the committee found that lapses on the part of the district administration, police and the temple committee besides the “crowd behaviour” contributed to the tragedy.

The police have already registered a First Information Report (FIR) against unknown persons in the case.

Show-cause notices will be issued to the officers held responsible by the fact-finding committee, said Sawant.

Hours after the incident, the state government had transferred district magistrate Sneha Gitte and superintendent of police (north) Akshat Kaushal amongst others.

Temple rituals were in full swing and the crowd was swelling when the stampede started on the sloping pathway between the sacred pond and `homkund’ where fire is lit for rituals, the chief minister said.

The authorities did not control the crowd and the planning was poor, he remarked, adding that the behaviour of some “dhonds” (devotees) too was not right.

The temple committee did not cooperate sufficiently with the administration while making arrangements for the festival, he said.

“The temple committee did not take the lead in crowd control,” Sawant added.

The district administration failed to take necessary safety measures for a festival of this scale, he said.

There was no strategic deployment of police force and the coordination among the cops was very poor, the chief minister said, adding that they did not install watch towers of the kind needed for such occasions.

Further, the lane leading to the temple became narrower because of stalls lining it, and the local panchayat gave NOC to stalls for electricity connection without inspecting the spot, Sawant said.

The fact-find committee made several recommendations including immediate measures like preparation of a crowd management plan for festivals of this scale, he said.

“The incident was an eye-opener for us. We will make a list of such festivals and a crowd management plan would be put in action in advance,” Sawant said.

A Standard Operating Procedure for various festivals will also be drafted after consulting temple committees in the state, he said.

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