Puri Rath Yatra stampede: Odisha minister sets 30-day deadline for administrative probe
An administrative investigation into the Puri stampede that left three people dead and 50 others injured would be completed within 30 days, said Odisha's Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan on Sunday, according to PTI.
The stampede took place between 4 am and 5 am, when a large number of devotees had gathered near the Shree Gundicha Temple to see the deities on chariots that had arrived from the Jagannath Temple in Puri.
'The state government will take stern action against those responsible for the tragic incident,' Harichandan said, adding that Development Commissioner Anu Garg will submit her inquiry report to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
Hours after the stampede, Majhi had ordered the transfer of Puri District Collector Siddharth S Swain and Superintendent of Police Binit Agarwal. He also announced that Puri Deputy Commissioner of Police Bishnu Charan Pati and Police Commandant Ajay Padhi were suspended.
The chief minister apologised on behalf of the Odisha government for the deaths and said that the incident was 'unpardonable'.
A compensation of Rs 25 lakh each was announced for the families of those who died.
During the Rath Yatra, the sibling deities Balabhadra, Subhadra and Jagannath are carried in chariots from the Jagannath temple to the Gundicha temple located 2.6 kms away, where they stay for nine days.
This year, the festival began on June 27 and will end on July 5.
On Sunday morning, a large number of devotees had gathered at Saradha Bali near the Shree Gundicha Temple to see the deities. Witnesses said that the situation escalated when two trucks carrying wooden logs tried to enter the area amid the crowds.
Kishore Satapathy, the chief district medical officer in Puri, told PTI that all the injured persons had been discharged from a government health facility by 8 pm on Sunday.
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