New Delhi: At least two people have died and 130 others injured during the Jagannath Yatra in Odisha on July 7, officials have told newspersons.
Quoting state officials, news reports have said the two deaths had occurred in different incidents during the Yatra. This year, the temple at Puri is celebrating the annual festival dedicated to Lord Jagannath for two days – July 7 and 8.
According to the Times of India, during the July 7 Yatra, a man identified as a resident of Bolangir district died due to “suffocation in a stampede-like situation”. He is said to have lost his life on the way to the hospital.
In another incident, the news report quoting police said a devotee lost his life after he came under the wheel of the moving chariot.
“An ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the families of the dead has been announced by the Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi,” the newspaper said, adding that state revenue minister Suresh Pujari visited the injured in the hospital on July 7.
Last year, at least three people were killed and eight injured in separate incidents during the chariot-pulling ritual in two districts of the state. While two were electrocuted in the Keonjhar district, the other had lost his life, also due to electrocution, in Koraput. In both cases, the chariots had come in contact with live electric wire.
