New Delhi: A stampede-like situation took place at the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh on Monday, injuring several devotees, including women and children.
According to news reports, citing temple officials, visits by VIPs like chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP leader Uma Bharti worsened the situation and affected crowd management. Several COVID-19-related norms, including maintaining distance and wearing masks, were flouted.
A video of the incident has been doing the rounds on social media, where several people could be seen pushing and jostling at gate number 4 of the temple that eventually led to the stampede-like situation. Even policemen were overpowered by the crowds.
#WATCH | A stampede-like situation was seen at Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh yesterday pic.twitter.com/yxJxIYkAU5
— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2021
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“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,” temple’s assistant administrator Moolchand Joonwal told PTI.
The authorities have permitted up to 3,500 devotees to enter the premise between 6 am and 8 pm, divided into seven slots of two hours each. Only 500 people are allowed in each slot.
Also read: How Many of India’s COVID Protocols Practice Safety and How Many Perform It?
Only those who have received at least one dose of the vaccine or have a negative RT-PCR test report are allowed to visit the temple.
Ujjain district collector Ashish Singh told India Today that the situation would be normal next Monday. “COVID-19 protocols 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,” he said.
According to a Times of India report, there were 140 active COVID-19 patients on July 26 in Madhya Pradesh. Most of the cases are being reported from Bhopal and Indore.
