Key Takeaways
- The Uttarakhand government has ordered strict crowd management in temples after a stampede at Mansa Devi Temple killed eight devotees and injured 30.
- Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has directed officials to implement measures such as registration of devotees, widening of footpaths and stairs, and removal of encroachments.
- The government is also framing development plans for religious places to ensure they can handle large crowds safely.
Dehradun: A day after stampede at Mansa Devi Temple in Haridwar that killed eight devotees and injured 30 Uttarakhand government has directed its senior officials and district administrations to ensure strict crowd management in all the temples known for heavy foot falls of the devotees.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami called a meeting with senior officials to discuss ways to prevent incidents like the Mansa Devi stampede. He asked them to come up with plans to ensure temple safety.
Dhami on Monday, instructed his senior officials to put in place adequate crowd management machinary at renowned religious places like Mansa Devi, Chandi Devi Temple in Haridwar, Purnagiri Dham in Tanakpur, Kainchi Dham Nainital, Jageshwar Temple Almora, Neelkanth Mahadev Temple Pauri and other locations to prevent famous temples, keeping in mind large number of devotees.
Dhami directed the officials to make foolprpof arrangements for crowd management, registration of devotee and widening of footpaths and stairs for easy movement of the devotees. Dhami asked the officials to remove encroachments enroute temples and availability of all basic facilities at these temples to help devotees have a smooth and safe visit to these religious sites.
Chief minister instructed the top babus of the state to frame development plan of these religious places keeping in view of their carrying capacity. Dhami ordered them to organise proper management of shops in the vicinity of religious sites and strengthen the ordered system of darshan at the temples. Dhami added that registration of the devotees must be made mandatory and evolve a system of controlled visit of the devotees in thr temples.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister directed the officials to constitute special committees in the leadership of commissioners of both divisions Kumaon and Garhwal. The committee will include senior officials as its members to monitor crowd situation in the temples under its jurisdiction.
