Stampede at Vaishno Devi Shrine leaves 12 dead during New Year rush

Twelve people lost their lives and 16 others were injured in a stampede at the famous Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir in the early hours after a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims during the New Year rush.

This is the first such tragedy at the revered shrine located atop the Trikuta hills - about 50 km from here - that attracts lakhs of people every year.

The incident occurred at 2.15 AM on Saturday near a relatively narrow passage at gate number 3 outside the sanctum sanctorum of the hilltop shrine where devotees usually arrive round the clock after trekking from the Katra base camp, a distance of nearly 13 km.

A high-level inquiry panel headed by Principal Secretary (Home) Shaleen Kabra, with Divisional Commissioner Jammu Rajiv Langar and Additional Director General of Police Mukesh Singh as its members, has been set up by Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha and asked to submit a report within a week.

Most of the deaths have taken place due to suffocation, police said, adding among the deceased seven are from Uttar Pradesh, three from Delhi and one each from Haryana and J-K.

In a late night statement, Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board said the stampede was a result of an ''unfortunate incident due to a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims''.

''In this ill-fated incident, a total of 12 pilgrims lost their lives and 16 others were injured,'' it said Among the dead, 10 are males and two females, and the bodies were shifted to CHC Katra for identification and further legal formalities.

The mortal remains of two pilgrims have been taken by air and of nine by road to their native places by the Shrine Board administration with the assistance of the UT administration. One body will be shifted tomorrow morning by air, the Board said.

Amongst the 16 injured who were hospitalised at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Hospital, Kakryal, nine have been discharged, whereas seven pilgrims are still under treatment there.

According to eyewitness accounts, the number of devotees was allegedly beyond the permitted level with flagrant violation of COVID-19 norms, and some of the survivors accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration of ''mismanagement''.

The Shrine Board, however, denied the charges saying all necessary arrangements were made in view of the expected rush.

''It is pertinent to mention here that the National Green Tribunal has capped the normal capacity of Yatra per day to 50000. Pertinently, keeping in view the COVID-19 Pandemic, 35000 pilgrims were allowed to proceed for yatra on 31st December 2021 and for 1st Jan. 2022,'' the statement said.

Condolences poured in from all quarters and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to LG Sinha. President Ram Nath Kovind and a number of other leaders including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, union ministers and chief ministers expressed grief over the loss of lives.

Director General of Police Dilbag Singh told PTI that preliminary information from the scene suggests there was a minor altercation among some boys, and within seconds, there was a stampede.

''All these things are being looked into. That area is a little narrow and people ran helter-skelter without knowing the reason. Most of the deaths have taken place due to suffocation and most of the injuries are also due to the same reason,'' he said.

''Police and officials of the civil administration were quick to respond, and the order within the crowd was immediately restored, but by that time, the damage had been done,'' said the DGP, who accompanied the Minister of State in the PMO, Jitendra Singh, during the visit to the shrine after the stampede.

Prem Singh, from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, said there was a ''complete mess'' as neither was the number of pilgrims restricted nor were COVID-19 guidelines enforced.

''It was a free-for-all-like situation. Many people were without mandatory face masks,'' he said, claiming that police personnel on duty at the checking point surrendered to the heavy rush and were warning people about the possibility of such an accident.

''Nothing but mismanagement was the cause for this tragic accident. They were aware about the possible rush but allowed the people in unhindered,'' a pilgrim from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh said while waiting outside a mortuary to identify a body.

Many people were resting on the floor, instead of heading back, and this led to overcrowding and chaos at the site, he said.

The deceased were identified as Arun Pratab Singh (30), Dharam Veer Singh (35), Vineet Kumar (38), Shewata Singh (35), Mohinder Gour (26), Narinder Kashap (40) and Monu Sharma (32) of Uttar Pradesh, Vinay Kumar (24), Sonu Panday (24) and Akash Kumar (29) of Delhi, Mamta (38) of Haryana and Desraj Kumar (26) of Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, the officials said.

Rani Devi of Bihar's Muzaffarpur said they were fortunate to escape death.

''I saw many people lying on the floor and was heartbroken,'' she said, blaming the tragedy on the ''uncontrolled'' crowd of pilgrims.

Another man, who lost his friend Arun Pratab Singh (30), said they had come from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. Aditya Sharma, a pilgrim, said some people who were sleeping on the floor got crushed in the melee.

An hour after the incident, pilgrims were again allowed at the site, the officials said, adding the yatra was not disrupted.

Following the incident, many pilgrims were seen leaving Katra without visiting the shrine.

''We are from Pathankot. We returned from the bhawan without 'darshan' due to the stampede,'' said Rekha, who was accompanied by five other family members, including three children.

Prime Minister Modi said that the central government is in constant touch with the J-K administration to assist the affected people.

The JK administration has announced a relief of Rs 10 lakh to the deceased and Rs 2 lakh to the injured which will be paid by the Shrine board.

The PMO tweeted that ''an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of those who lost their lives due to the stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan. The injured would be given Rs 50,000: PM @narendramodi''.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the people from the state who lost their lives in the incident.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh said innovative measures are required to deal with the new trend of youngsters eager to visit the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine on the first day of the new year.

The minister also visited the injured devotees undergoing treatment at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital at Kakriyal.

''Traditionally, the pilgrims used to come on the festival days like Navratras, Dussehra and Deepavali. This is a new trend and we have to take measures accordingly (of youngsters visiting on New Year),'' he said.

Political parties in Kashmir, including the National Conference and the People's Conference, expressed grief over the incident.

The PDP said such ''mismanagement'' has been unheard of in recent times.

Senior BJP leader and former legislator Devender Singh Rana, who interacted with the pilgrims here, said it is the first such incident at the shrine and there should be no politics over it.

''This is no time for allegations or counter-allegations. It is a tragedy that has happened and nobody should play politics over it,'' he added.

While most of the devotees undertake the arduous trek to the shrine, some reach there by helicopter service.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)