A religious ceremony held at ‘Leuva Patel Sanskrutik Bhavan’ in Dhoraji, Rajkot district, turned into a nightmare on Sunday when nine people — all women — suffocated to death during a rush for ‘prasad’. One of the victims was a young girl. Another 10 women had to be admitted at hospitals in Dhoraji and Rajkot for treatment.
The tragedy occurred on the last day of ‘Chhappan Bhog Manorath Mahotsav’, an eight-day religious ceremony for Vaishnavs that had been organised at the Sanskrutik Bhavan in Dhoraji.
Sources said the organisers of the event had expected around 25,000 devotees and had made separate seating arrangements for men and women. However, towards evening on Sunday, the number of devotees increased manifold. This led to overcrowding in the area earmarked for women and many complained of suffocation. Some women began pushing each other in an effort to get out for more air.
The crowd of women became uncontrollable during ‘Annakut Darshan’ at around 7 in the evening. There was a rush for ‘prasad’ and ‘darshan’ during which nine women, including a young girl, died.
To protest against the incident, shopkeepers in the area pulled immediately down their shutters. Political leaders such as MLA Jasuben Korat, Congress MP from Porbandar, Vitthal Radadia, and Pravin Makadia rushed to the spot. The police, too, soon arrived at the place.
District superintendent of police, DN Patel, blamed the organisers for the incident. “As Sunday was the last day, the number of devotees was expected to increase,” he said. “But the organisers had made no arrangement for a larger number of devotees. The tragedy occurred because of poor arrangement by organisers.”
Radadia, however, blamed the police for the incident. “No additional police personnel
were deployed for the religious event,” he said. “Only traffic police personnel were there to look after the ‘Shobha Yatra’, the religious procession that was taken out on Sunday morning. If police had deployed more personnel, the tragedy could have been averted.”
