6 die in Shirgao stampede, 74 injured
Six people, including two from a family, died and 74 others were injured in a stampede at the popular
Shree Devi Lairai Jatra
at the tiny village of Shirgao in
North Goa
early on Saturday morning. Three of the deceased — two women and a 16-year-old boy — were identified as 'dhonds', special devotees of the goddess.
The stampede, perhaps the first in post-Liberation Goa's history, occurred at 3am on the second day of the five-day jatra that began on Friday. Five people were in a critical condition and on ventilator support at
Goa Medical College
.
The jatra, one of Goa's biggest temple festivals, attracts over a lakh people in a day to Shirgao village, which has a population of 2,000 people. There are over 60,000 'dhonds' from Goa, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, some as young as five years old, who throng the jatra to walk barefoot through burning coal, known as 'homkund'.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant, who visited the spot, said a preliminary inquiry suggested that a group of 'dhonds' suddenly tried to enter the queue to the 'homkund', resulting in confusion that eventually led to the stampede.
Hours after the tragedy, govt ordered a magisterial inquiry into it, and announced Rs 10 lakh for the families of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh for those who sustained major injuries. Govt also transferred North Goa collector Sneha Gitte and North Goa SP Akshat Kaushal, among others, with immediate effect and filed an FIR against unidentified persons.
'An inquiry will be conducted by revenue secretary Sandip Jacques, and a report will be submitted on Sunday. Based on the inquiry report, responsibility will be fixed, and action will be taken,' Sawant said.
Recently, state cabinet decided to declare the jatra as a state festival, but the temple committee rejected the govt decision.
There were two lanes at the site — one heading towards the 'homkund' and the other going towards Assonora. Goa police had barricaded the area with ropes, so that 'dhonds' walk in an orderly manner. For a while, the crowd was managed efficiently by the 1,000-odd police personnel, with devotees walking without any problems. The queue heading towards the 'homkund' was full of 'dhonds', while the other was comparatively less crowded.
The tragedy occurred when the 'dhonds' were standing in a queue on the slope of the main village road, around 500m from the 'homkund', waiting to walk over the burning coals. 'Suddenly, there was screaming and shouting. People started jumping over our compound wall and entered our house,' 59-year-old Shirgao resident Mahesh Madgaonkar told
TOI
. It was in front of Madgaonkar's house that the tragedy unfolded.
While the exact reason behind the stampede is yet to be ascertained, some eyewitnesses said that it all began when one woman fell down, while others said a 'dhond' got stuck to a barricade rope pulled by police, while still others said there was an altercation between two groups of 'dhonds'. Some even said that one person got an electric shock. 'There was total mismanagement,' said Rama Gaonkar, a 'dhond' who rescued the injured and a resident of Latambarcem.
'Police did not help in the rescue operation. We had to tell the police to bring a vehicle to shift the injured persons. A 'dhond' got stuck at the rope barricade and fell. Police should not have barricaded the slope with ropes,' he alleged.
But the CM said that the incident didn't occur because of the rope used for barricading.
After the tragedy, an ambulance stationed a few metres away from the spot was roped in, and injured persons were shifted to the community health centres (CHCs) at Bicholim and Sanquelim. A total of 43 patients were triaged, and critical patients were referred to the North Goa district hospital, Mapusa, and Goa Medical College.
'We saw six persons who were critical, lifted from the spot,' said Madgaonkar, who added that even police had to resort to a minor lathicharge to control the crowd to help the injured persons shift into the ambulance.
The CM visited the hospitals and enquired about the health of the injured persons. 'I promised the affected families all possible help,' he said.
Temple president Dinanath Gaonkar said that some people pushed each other while moving towards the 'homkund'. 'This led to one person getting an electric shock, resulting in the loss of lives of innocent people; such a thing should not have happened,' he alleged.
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