Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Rajasthan Stampede- 150 people killed

This news is so sad to hear. But it raises lots of questions in my mind. From the period of 2003 to till now, these are the following major incidents related to stampede
August 27, 2003: 39 pilgrims killed, 125 injured when devotees who were waiting to bathe surged over a flimsy fence triggering a stampede at the Kumbh festival in Nasik, Maharashtra.
January 25, 2005: 340 devotees trampled to death during an annual pilgrimage at Mandhra Devi temple in Maharashtra.
March 7, 2006: 28 killed, 101 injured in two bombings across Varanasi. First blast at a Varanasi temple followed by another at Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station crowded with pilgrims.
August 3, 2008: 162 dead, 47 injured in a stampede triggered by rumours of a rockslide at Naina Devi Temple in Himachal Pradesh .
August 10, 2008: Two pilgrims died, 250 were left stranded after stairs leading to ancient Mahadeva temple in Kota district of north-western Rajasthan collapsed.

If you see this report you can very well understand that all the incidents happened in North India. No such single thing happened in South India. Two weeks back I went to Tirupathi and Kalahasthi.....The way it was organized and the security are the two major things which i admired.....But it was not there in most of the North Indian Big functions....We cant give sorry excuses like the cave was narrow and the lock was like suit case lock ....That day alone 80000 people's presence which is like a daily count in Tirupathi....But questions like; why there is a security lapse...Why the stampeded looks common in North India....What are the understandings from this incident.....Is it something related to common sense where one by one only can go inside a small cave???? It is really a wake up call for the Government If it is State or central....The thought here is "Be organized and more sensible if it is Sathyam theater or Samudhra devi temple "

Regards,
Varun
dayavarun@gmail.com

1 comment:

Devasena Hariharan said...

Hey Varun, NIce Musings and statistics. This is another blog that interests me, apart from urs.

http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/

Equally though provoking. She is a freelance journalist for Times of India