In a shocking incident, at least 11 people were killed and 30 people were injured in a stampede on the Pavagadh hills on Sunday. Among the injured people eight were in critical condition. The incident happened near the Mahakali temple atop the Pavagadh hill that is located in the Panchamahals district, about 50 km far from Vadodara in central Gujarat.
According to the report, among the 13 dead, five were women and four were children. They were among the lakhs of devotees went to temple to offer prayer on the first day of Navratri. The district administration swung into action and admitted the injured to the Halol referral hospital.
The police officials said that the unmatched crowd of the worshippers for a ‘darshan’ of the famous Mahakali temple atop the hill on the occasion of Navratri caused the stampede nears the temple. Later, Modi government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.
According to the eyewitness, the heavy rush of the people on ‘Patia Pool,’. Patia Pool is a narrow bridge that connects Machhi that is the base station for the Pavagadh hills and Tarapur Darwaja. The bridge became overcrowded and caused the stampede that killed eight people.
Milind Todwane, District Collector, said that the capacity of the temple is two lakh normally but more than five lakh devotees had turned up for darshan at the Mahakali temple. The district administration had anticipated the additional rush but the crowd was much more than expected.
The temple administration has built a ropeway trolleys but the devotees used to prefer going through the bridge. Later, the state government announced a compensation of Rs one lakh to the relatives of the killed and injured people.
