Mathura, August 20: An investigation has been started into the death of two devotees, including a woman, due to suffocation and massive footfall at the Banke Bihari temple on the occasion of Janmashtami.
ADG Agra Zone Rajiv Krishna, IG Agra Range Nachiketa Jha, Agra Divisional Commissioner Amit Kumar reached Vrindavan Banke Bihari Temple on Saturday afternoon on the instructions of the Chief Minister to investigate the matter.
The top officials also inquired about the well being of the injured admitted in the hospital here. After that, after reaching the temple, he got information about the incident from the servitors.
While the ADG has spoken about the investigation, the temple administration has blamed the police for the incident.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life in the incident due to the gathering of more than the capacity of devotees in Mangala Aarti in the Banke Bihari temple premises of Vrindavan.
Yogi expressed his condolences to the family members of both the deceased and also directed for proper treatment of all the injured. Governor Anandiben Patel also condoled the accident.
On the instructions of the Chief Minister, ADG Zone Rajiv Krishna, IG Agra Range Nachiketa Jha, Commissioner of Agra Division Amit Kumar reached Vrindavan on Saturday. Here the officials directed to know the condition of the injured admitted in the hospital and make arrangements for proper treatment. Three of the injured patients are undergoing treatment in the accident at Banke Bihari temple at Ram Krishna Mission Charitable Hospital in Vrindavan.
After knowing the condition of the patients, the officials reached the Banke Bihari temple.
In the Banke Bihari temple, the ADG tried to know the reasons for the accident from the Goswami and the employees of the temple. The officials left after staying in the temple for about 15 minutes. The officials, who arrived to investigate the cause of the accident, held a meeting with the people associated with the temple management at Mohan Bagh, the office of the Banke Bihari temple.
In Mohan Bagh, officials held a meeting for two and a half hours with the temple’s management Manish Kumar, deputy manager Umesh Saraswat and temple priests Gopi Goswami Ghanshyam Goswami and Rajat Goswami.
The officials tried to ascertain the cause behind the accidents from the people associated with the temple management.
Regarding VIP culture, Additional Director General of Police Rajiv Krishna said that this was also discussed. ADG Agra Zone Rajiv Krishna was asked that the responsible were making videos with the family and the crowd kept increasing below.
In response to this question, the ADG said that investigation is being done. Whoever is guilty, action will be taken.
Banke Bihari temple servant Dinesh Goswami has blamed the police administration for the accident.
He said, โEven after the devotees were forbidden to take photographs in the temple premises, the officials were making videos. His entire focus was on his family.โ He further adds that apart from this the policemen who were deployed were busy in bringing and taking VIP people to the temple. He didn’t care about making arrangements. He has demanded an inquiry into the entire matter.
The main reason for the VIP culture crash
ADG Agra Zone said that the families of many officials were present in the temple at the time of the accident. The officers and the family members of the officers were watching and making videos while standing in the balcony of the temple. The officers busy in visiting the family kept ignoring the influx of the crowd and the accident happened. BIPs come in large numbers to the Banke Bihari temple. Here VIP all enter the temple from the same gate number 1 from which devotees leave.
Could the administration not assess the crowd
The second reason for the accident in the temple is the inability of the public administration to assess the crowd properly. Mangala Aarti is performed once in a year in Banke Bihari temple on Shri Krishna Janmashtami festival.
A large number of devotees come here to perform Mangala Aarti. The number of devotees coming for Mangala Aarti exceeded that of the temple as it was Saturday. The administration could not possibly estimate this crowd in the temple and the accident happened.
