Six persons killed on ghat road
Vijayawada, January 3, 2008A stampede on Indrakeeladri, the abode of famous Kanakadurga temple, in the early hours of Thursday left six persons killed and nearly 12 persons injured. Sources reveal that the dead includes five women and an eight year old boy. The incident took place on the ghat road leading to the temple that was thronged by an unprecedented rush of devotees observing 'Bhavani Deeksha' ended for 41 days.
The tragedy occurred at around 4.30am when over one lakh pilgrims competed with each other to reach the temple through the narrow ghat road. The security arrangements are visibly poor and the barricading system far from satisfactory.
The Chief Minster, Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy took a serious note of the situation ordered immediate sacking of the entire Trust Board of the Kanakadurga temple that was headed by P Naray Reddy. He said that the temple authorities should have taken more effective and foolproof arrangements for the darshan. The State Government constituted a committee comprising Principal Secretary (Endowments), IV Subba Rao, P Sundar Kumar, Commissioner of Endowments and S Suresh Kumar, Joint Collector of Krishna District to inquire into the stampede and fix responsibility. The Government has announced an ex gratia of Rs.1 lakh to each of the deceased and Rs.10,000 for those injured.
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