Puri: At least 10 devotees, including four students, fainted and several others complained of breathlessness, as thousands thronged Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri on Monday for darshan of the sibling deities.
According to sources, it was a too chaotic and stampede-like situation near the Lions’ Gate of the 12th century shrine as thousands of devotees crowded to have darshan of the deities at the year-end. The incident left 10 devotees including four students unconscious. Several others also complained of restlessness and suffocation.
All the 10 sick devotees were immediately rushed to Puri District Headquarter Hospital and provided treatment. They were stable and were responding to the treatment well, sources added.
It is learnt that the students had traveled from a school at Kadabarang village in Bhadrak district to have darshan of Lord Jagannath. While entering the temple, they were surrounded by a large number of devotees, and the surging crowd led to a stampede-like situation near the ‘Nata Mandap’ area.
”A large number of devotees gathered from the early morning on Monday near the entrance of the temple. It was a mad rush. Inside the temple premises too, it was no better either. The heavy turnout led to pushing and shoving among the devotees, which resulted in several devotees falling ill due to congestion,” said an eyewitness.
Notably, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), Puri police and other agencies have taken several measures for the safety of devotees and smooth crowd management.
Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place in the pilgrim city in view of the heavy turnout of visitors at the year end. Because, every year lakhs of people throng Puri during the year-end and commencement of the New Year.
In a bid to avoid any kind of unwanted chaos, thefts, public nuisance or any other bad situation, the police have heightened security arrangements, police sources said.
However, several devotees feared similar chaotic scenes may occur on December 31 and January 1, as the footfall is expected to be much higher in the coming two days.
