Bhubaneswar: Development Commissioner Anu Garg on Thursday submitted the report of the inquiry conducted into the June 29 stampede during Rath Yatra in Puri to the Odisha government.
The senior bureaucrat submitted the probe report to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at the Lok Seva Bhawan in Bhubaneswar.
Notably, three devotees were killed and several others injured in the stampede that took place at Saradhabali near Gundicha temple a day after the Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannath and siblings at Puri town.
The stampede took place when thousands of people congregated at Saradhabali in the early hours of June 29 to have a glimpse of Lord Balabhadra, Lord Jagannath and Devi Subhadra on their respective chariots.
Soon after the incident, the state government transferred then Puri Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain and SP Vinit Agrawal. It also suspended two senior police officials for negligence of duty.
The Chief Minister tendered an apology for the tragic incident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh each for the kin of the deceased devotees.
Ordering an administrative probe into the incident, the state government had directed the Development Commissioner to conduce an inquiry and submit a detailed report.
The Development Commissioner recorded the statements of several devotees, servitors of Jagannath temple, officials of Puri district administration, police and other stakeholders as part of the probe.
