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Stampede at Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar temple, many hurt; virus norms go for a toss
The situation worsened and security officials struggled with crowd management due to visits by heavyweight citizens, including chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP leader Uma Bharti.
A stampede-like situation took place at the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh on Monday causing injuries to many, including women and children. The heavy crowding led to flouting of several coronavirus-related norms guidelines, including maintaining distance and wearing masks.
The situation worsened and security officials struggled with crowd management due to visits by heavyweight citizens, including chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP leader Uma Bharti.
Watch: Stampede at Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar temple amid VIP presence; many injured
This was the first Monday of the Hindu month of Shravan, considered auspicious by a large number of Hindus who visit temples of Lord Shiva to offer their prayers.
The stampede was reportedly witnessed at gate number four of the temple, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. At a point, the security personnel were overpowered following which people rushed in. Soon after, many of the devotees lost their balance and others fell on them.
Around 8:30am, a large number of people tried to enter for darshan and in the process broke the barricade at gate number four of the temple complex. After the barricade broke, several people tried to run towards the main deity but thankfully there was no untoward incident," the temple's assistant administrator Moolchand Joonwal.
The temple had reopened last month, but only visitors who have received at least one dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 or had a negative RT-PCR test report issued 48 hours prior to the visit have been allowed.
As many as 3,500 devotees have been granted permission to visit the temple between 6am and 8pm with 500 people allowed to enter the premises in two hours.
Ujjain District Collector Ashish Singh said the situation would be normal next Monday. “Covid protocol cannot be followed in the kind of free-for-all we had today. This was an exception but we will revise the plan for next Monday and ensure social distancing,” Singh was quoted as saying in a report.
"Due to it being the first Monday of the holy month of Shravan, people were allowed to stand in queues for darshan apart from pre-booking. However, the crowd that turned up was much larger than what we expected," Joonwal said.
Officials said visits by VIPs like Chouhan and Bharti only added to the chaos.
