Devotees marching towards Mata Vaishno Devi temple amid tight security
A day after the stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi hill shrine, authorities on Sunday tightened arrangements with full deployment of security personnel and announced several steps to prevent any overcrowding in the temple premises in view of the rush of pilgrims. Of. A high-powered inquiry committee constituted by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha visited the site and appealed to the general public to share videos, statements or any other evidence about the incident.
Sinha presided over the first meeting of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board after the stampede and several decisions were taken to ensure the safety of devotees, including the provision of 100% online registration.
Here is the list of steps announced to prevent any kind of crowding in the temple premises
- Involve technical experts and adopt best practices of crowd management.
- Modalities of a suspension bridge, a ropeway and a skywalk were discussed for effective queue management.
- To identify more halting points to cater to the large crowd at Bhawan and Katra.
- An exercise needs to be done to critically examine the safety audits of physical infrastructure and fire safety in main buildings, shopping complexes and other critical areas.
The yatra recorded over 55.77 lakh people in 2021, while last year it was 17 lakh due to the coronavirus pandemic. Twelve people lost their lives and 16 others were injured in a stampede early Saturday after a scuffle broke out between two groups of pilgrims during a New Year’s rush. Several eyewitnesses said the crowd was high as people stayed inside the temple premises after darshan instead of returning to the base camp at Katra.
A three-member investigation team led by Principal Secretary (Home) Shaleen Kabra and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Rajiv Langar and Additional Director General of Police (Jammu) Mukesh Singh visited the site and was briefed by the officials. He was accompanied by Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta.
A public notice was issued urging the general public to submit any facts, statements, electronic evidence etc. regarding the incident with the panel.
The National Green Tribunal has imposed a cap of 50,000 pilgrims per day and keeping in view the COVID-19 pandemic, the pilgrimage board had allowed 35,000 pilgrims to proceed for the yatra on 31 December 2021 and 1 January 2022. Apart from enhancing the security arrangements, the authorities have also deployed additional staff to ensure strict adherence to the COVID-19 guidelines.
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