Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Unfortunate

The stampede in the Naina Devi temple, Himachal Pradesh, which killed 146 people and injured many has yet again triggered a debate on effective management and mechanism to deal with disasters, natural or accidental. That most of the deaths, mostly of women and children, occurred when they were trampled upon is unfortunate.

Accidents such as these are preventable in nature. They can be minimised by putting in place effective safety measures. Sunday’s tragedy was the second such incident in the temple. Two decades ago, 53 people lost their lives in a stampede because there were no sufficient exit points.

Ahamed Kabeer,

Dubai

It was really shocking to read that 146 people, mostly women and children, lost their lives in the stampede. Every year, lakhs of devotees visit Sabarimala and return home safely thanks to well-organised crowd management by the authorities.

Had the Himachal Pradesh government spent a fraction of the amount it disbursed to the relatives of the victims, the tragedy could have been avoided.

K.S. Sundaram,

Bangalore

Stampedes occur with regular frequency in temples but we do not seem to take preventive action seriously. People need to be educated on basic discipline. It is the primary responsibility of the temple authorities to put up barricades and regulate the traffic.

In these days of instant communication, the rumour which led to panic among the pilgrims in the Naina Devi temple could have been nipped in the bud by announcements in the public address system. Had sufficient care been taken by the police, the tragedy could have been averted.

A.R.K. Pillai,

Mumbai

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