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A preliminary report on Tuesday’s stampede at Pushkar Ghat in Rajahmundry by East Godavari collector H. Arun Kumar has put the blame for the tragedy at the doorstep of the police and pointed to the massing of people at the gates of the ghat while VVIPs conducted their rituals as one of the contributory reasons.
Twenty-seven people were killed on the first day of the Godavari Maha Pushkaram when pilgrims held up at the gates swelled to uncontrollable numbers and, when released, rushed out in a surge in which many women and children got trodden.
The collector’s report, requisitioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), was sent to Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao on Thursday.
The report will be first shown to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is still in Rajahmundry, before forwarding it to the Centre. The collector may be asked to give a revised report if any important aspects and details were left out, sources said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had sought a report on the stampede and sought to know the cause and the exact toll. The report, a copy of which is available with The Hindu states that, “Heavy influx of pilgrims started increasing as time passed, (and) by about 8.30 am crowd from all directions started breaching the barricades set up for crowd management and attempted to move in various directions.
“The police and security personnel couldn’t control this flow in front of the Pushkar Ghat, where the crowd from all directions had gathered. It resulted in a stampede at approximately 27 pilgrims were declared as ‘brought dead’ at the general hospital, Rajahmundry.”
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