No Stampede-Like Situation, Says Puri SP After Woman Falls Down Amid Commotion At Jagannath Temple

Puri: A devotee stumbled and fell down while standing in the queue at Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri town, which witnessed huge rush on the occasion of Sankranti, on Wednesday.

Rebuffing reports about stampede-like situation near Paschim Dwar of the temple, Puri SP Kanwar Vishal Singh said that the woman fell down due to some illness. “There was no need for hospitalisation and she was soon back on her feet. Ample forces were deployed at the shrine for safety and security of the devotees anticipating huge rush,” he added.

Eyewitnesses said the the woman escaped with minor injury as the devotees were waiting inside the barricade and there was no movement when she fell down around 10.30 am ahead of a special ritual of the deities. They were then in a hurry to enter the shrine for darshan of the sibling deities.

In January, two devotees fell unconscious and were rushed to hospital after they were trapped in a stampede-like situation inside the 12th-century shrine.