116-dead-in-stampede-at-satsang-in-up-s-hathras

At least 116 people were killed in a stampede at a religious congregation, on Tuesday, as devotees suffocated to their deaths and bodies piled atop each other in the worst such tragedy in recent years. The incident is reported in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh. 

 

The stampede took place as people headed home after a 'satsang' in the district’s Phulrai village, conducted by a preacher known as Bhole Baba.

Twenty-seven bodies were brought to a hospital in neighbouring Etah district. Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Singh said 23 of them were women. And 89 lay dead in Hathras itself.

 

Aligarh Range Inspector General of Police Shalabh Mathur put the death toll at 116.

 

Victims, dead or unconscious, were brought to the Sikandara Rao Trauma Centre in trucks and ‘tempos’. The bodies lay scattered outside the health centre as people milled around them.

 

One video clip showed a woman crying, sitting amid five or six bodies in a truck. Another showed a man and a woman lifeless in another vehicle.

Clips before the stampede showed people in a large ‘shamiana’ listening to Bhole Baba. The baba sat before them on a throne-like chair.

 

District Magistrate Ashish Kumar said the 'satsang' was a private function for which the sub-divisional magistrate had granted permission. The local administration provided security outside the venue while the arrangements inside were made by organisers, he added.

 

Eyewitness Shakuntala Devi stated that the stampede took place while people were leaving the venue after the ‘satsang’, which was a day-long affair. People fell atop each other, she said, and then the bodies were pulled out.

 

According to Sikandra Rao sub-divisional magistrate Ravendra Kumar, the stampede took place when devotees tried to get a glimpse of Bhole Baba as the event ended. They also wanted to collect some soil from around the baba’s feet, he stated.

 

Satsang participant Sonu Kumar blamed the slippery ground for the stampede.

 

“When Guru ji left the place after almost one and half hours, all of a sudden devotees ran behind him to touch his feet,” he said. When they turned back, some slipped.

 

Sikandra Rao police station SHO Ashish Kumar blamed “overcrowding” at the ‘satsang’.

 

Another eyewitness, who left the place before the ‘satsang’ ended said the arrangements were not adequate, given the number of devotees.

Agra’s additional director general of police and Aligarh divisional commissioner are part of a team that would probe in the incident, the state government said. The team has been asked to give its report in 24 hours.

 

PM Modi condoled the deaths

 

 

Amid his reply to a two-day debate in Parliament on the motion of thanks on the President's address to both Houses of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths.

 

"In the midst of discussions, I have also been given sad news. It has come to my attention that there have been many tragic deaths in the stampede in Hathras, UP," he said in the Lok Sabha.

 

The prime minister said senior officials of the central government are in constant contact with the Uttar Pradesh administration to coordinate aid efforts.

 

On social media, President Droupadi Murmu said the news was heart-rending. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed sadness.

An FIR will be registered against the organisers of the event, a state government statement said.

 

The Prime Minister’s Office announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each person killed in the stampede. The injured would be given Rs 50,000.

 

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the state ministers Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary and Sandeep Singh were headed for Hathras. The chief secretary and the state police chief too were directed to reach the spot. 

 

"The incident is extremely sad and heart-wrenching... Local organisers had organised a program of 'Bhole Baba'. After the program, when the preacher of the Satsang was coming down from the stage, suddenly a crowd of devotees started going towards him to touch him and when the 'sevadars' stopped them, this accident happened there."

 

"To investigate this entire matter, we have formed a team under the chairmanship of Additional DG Agra and have asked them to give a detailed report. In view of the incident, the Chief Secretary and DGP of the state are camping there. Three ministers of the state government Chaudhary Laxmi Narayan, Sandeep Singh, Asim Arun, all three of them are at the spot."