Every year, all across India, people die on pilgrimage to temples and other holy sites. Deaths on pilgrimage to remote sites is understandable, given unpredictable weather fluctuations at higher elevations. Fatalities at temples, however, seem so common as to be almost astonishing.
On the 4th March this year, local people gathered at the Ram Janaki hindu temple, about 15 miles north of Allahabad, for a ceremonial festival, in honour of the anniversary of the death of the temple owner's wife. The mainly poor women, with their children, crowded into the temple grounds in the hope of recieving free clothes. During the squeeze a metal gate collapsed, trapping a few people. This seemed to result in panic and in the ensuing stampede, over sixty people died.
Sadly this kind of incident is repeated time and time again. In September 2008 a disaster was reported from Jodhpur in Rajahstan:
The reason for the stampede is still unclear. Eyewitnesses blamed it on the heavy rush of devotees and a tussle to reach the temple doors first. However, police say the stampede was triggered by a barricade collapsing.
K.S. Bains, director general of the Rajasthan state police, added that a power failure in the early hours of the fateful morning could have caused some of the devotes to slip.
In this incident, over 200 people died. Deaths also followed the January 2005 pilgrimage to the Mandhra Devi temple in Maharashtra - steps on the approach to the temple were wet and, additionally, fires broke out on the stalls surrounding it.
The list could go on and on. Whereas here in the UK, public buildings would be closed if deemed unsafe, it seems that in India there has to be a disaster before the proverbial "enquiry" into the disaster takes place.
Daniel
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