Ujjain: The famous Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh witnessed a stampede-like situation on Monday, the first day of Sawan festival, as thousands of devotees thronged the temple amid VIP visits.
A huge crowd gathered inside the temple to have a glimpse of the deity, where people were pushing each other to enter the historic temple. Devotees gathered in large numbers broke the security cordon and Kovid-19 protocol.
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Devotees including children and women who were reportedly present in the temple were injured in the incident. The crowd went out of control after some VIPs, including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had darshan, hampering the smooth flow of devotees.
In the video, devotees standing in a queue can be seen dominating the temple authorities and going inside the temple.
Mahakaleshwar Temple is mostly revered as it is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. The temple reopened last month, but entry is allowed only to those who have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine or have a negative RT-PCR test report issued 48 hours before the visit .
After a hiatus of more than two and a half months, the temple was opened to the public after being closed due to the second wave of coronavirus cases.
Located about 175 km from the state capital Bhopal, this temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The temple has allowed 3,500 devotees to enter the temple between 6 am and 8 pm in a day. There are seven time slots of two hours each and 500 people are allowed to enter the temple in each slot.
The temple authorities are going to work on the revised plan next Monday and will follow the COVID protocol. Since it is difficult to follow the Covid protocol in the free-for-all done on Monday, so many people entered the temple at once.
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