Eight women devotees died and several others were seriously injured in a stampede at the Shitala Devi temple in Bihar’s Nalanda district. The death toll is expected to rise as the condition of many of the injured is critical. The state government has announced a compensation of Rs 6 lakh each to the families of the deceased. Similarly, Prime Minister Modi has also expressed his condolences and has ordered to provide Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 50 thousand each to the injured from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
What happened?
It is said that the Shitala Mata temple in the village of Magda in Nalanda district sees a large number of devotees every Tuesday. Especially since today is the last Tuesday of the month of Chaitra and Mahavir Jayanti, a large number of devotees have come.
The stampede occurred as some of the people standing in the queue tried to quickly have darshan of the deity. Reports from the area indicate that 8 people have died and many have been injured.
Many of the injured were taken to nearby hospitals by ambulance and are being treated there. Speaking to reporters about the crowd, a devotee said, “There is always a large crowd here on Tuesdays. People come for the darshan of Shitala Mata. We have also come from Patna. But some people died due to the sudden crowd.
The reason for this unfortunate incident is the lack of adequate security arrangements.
There is not even a single policeman here.”
Another devotee, Reena Roy, said, “We have received information that some people have fainted, some have been injured. We have heard that some have died. The stampede was caused by people who did not want to stand in the queue and wanted to have darshan before others. Today is the last Tuesday of the month of Chaitra. Administrative mismanagement is the reason for this incident.”
