Chhath stampede: devotees blame poor arrangement at Patna ghat

Chhath worshippers, who are still under a shock following the stampede at Adalatghat on the bank of the Ganga in Patna in which 17 persons lost their lives, blamed the district administration for "poor arrangement".

Chhath worshippers, who are still under a shock following the stampede at Adalatghat on the bank of the Ganga in Patna in which 17 persons lost their lives, blamed the district administration for "poor arrangement".

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Prem Kumar, a worshipper, said there was inadequate arrangement to accommodate the large crowd of devotees that throng the ghat which had never witnessed a tragedy like this.

Jaiprakash Bharti of Bhojpur district, who had come with his family to offer obeisance to the Sun God during the Chhath festival, said that the narrow pathway between the Adalatghat and the road outside were to blame for the stampede.

"The pathway should be broadened into a road by next year if a stampede of this scale needs to be prevented," Bharti said.

The usual bustle was missing this morning at the Adalatghat with most of the worshippers outside Patna preferring not to visit the ghat and paid their obeisance elsewhere.

An aged woman, Nita Devi, blamed inadequate security arrangement at the Adalatghat to manage the swelling crowd.

Kumar said that he was fortunate to survive the tragedy as he chose to stay put at the ghat 10 minutes before the stampede occurred.

A Patna resident Amit Kumar said that he was so traumatised after watching the scene at the Adalatghat that he did not take his children out this morning.