Hours after six devotees lost their lives in a stampede during a temple festival in Goa, the state government on Saturday ordered the transfer of five senior officials, including the North Goa collector and the superintendent of police.
"In order to ensure free and fair inquiry, the government has transferred District Collector Sneha Gitte, Superintendent of Police (North) Akshat Kaushal, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Bicholim) Jivba Dalvi, Deputy Collector (Bicholim) Bhimnath Khorjuvekar and Police Inspector Dinesh Gadekar with immediate effect," Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told reporters.
Addressing a press conference in Panaji, Sawant said a fact-finding committee, headed by State Revenue Secretary Sandeep Jacques and comprising senior police officer Varma Sharma, Parimal Abhishekh, State Director of Transport, and Tikam Singh Varma, SP, South Goa, as its members has been constituted.
Sawant said the panel will visit the stampede site at Shirgao village and prepare a report after speaking with all the concerned persons, including the Superintendent of Police, Collector, and officials of Fire and Emergency Services.
The committee will submit its report by Sunday morning.
Sawant said the death toll remains six. Eleven injured people were admitted to Goa Medical College and Hospital and five of them are on the ventilator, while eight persons are undergoing treatment in North Goa District Hospital. The incident happened on Friday night as thousands of devotees thronged narrow lanes leading to the Hindu temple in Goa’s Shirgao village, some 40km (24 miles) from the state capital of Panaji.
People had gathered during the annual Shri Lairai Zatra festival at the Sree Lairai Devi temple, which is popular for events including firewalking rituals, during which devotees walk barefoot over a bed of burning coals to seek blessings.
According to a report by the Press Trust of India news agency, people standing on a slope near the temple fell over, pushing more people to fall onto each other, Director General of Police Alok Kumar said.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened by the tragic stampede”. He visited the hospital and said that “all possible support” would be given to the families of those killed or injured.
Vishwajit Rane, Goa state’s health minister, said “approximately 80” people were injured. “Five are critical and on ventilator support, while the remaining are being treated in the specially created emergency ward,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office expressed “condolences to those who lost their loved ones”. “The local administration is assisting those affected,” Modi said on social media.
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