At least seven devotees died and several injured on Monday (August 12, 2024) in a stampede at the Baba Siddhnath Temple on Banavar hillock under Makhdumpur block of Jehanabad district of central Bihar. The injured persons are admitted to government hospitals for medical attention.
The death toll can mount further, said local residents. All the 10 injured persons are admitted in the local government hospital and are undergoing treatment. As many as 16 persons were injured in the incident out of which 10 were discharged from local government hospital after primary medical attention while, three others were sent to Gaya-based Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital and other three were undergoing treatment in local government hospitals.
The death toll can mount further, said local residents. Photo: X/@PTI_News
The Jehanabad District Magistrate Alankrita Pandey confirmed that at least seven devotes have died and 10 of them were injured in a stampede which happened on Monday morning at Baba Siddhnath Temple. “The cause of stampede was clash between a flower seller and devotees. The flower seller has been absconding after the incident”, added Ms Pandey while asserting, “there was no baton charge by those deployed for the management of crowd at the temple”.
The incident occurred at Banavar hillock under Makhdumpur block of Jehanabad district of central Bihar. On the fourth Monday of the holy Shrawan month, there was said to be huge rush of devotees of lord Shiva at the temple to offer puja (worship). “After midnight on August 11, the devotees rushed towards the temple located on the hillock to offer puja (worship) to lord Shiva and the stampede followed”, said a local of Jehanabad town Hareram Sharma, 36, who too had gone to offer prayed to the God but, escaped unhurt due to, he said, “Baba’s (Lord Shiva) blessings”. Among the dead, three are women Sushila Devi, Poonam Devi and Nisha Devi who were residents of Makhdumpur in Jehanabad town.
Expressing grief over the incident Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced ₹4 lakh ex-gratia to the next of kin of the victim families and ordered for proper treatment to those who were injured.
Baba Siddhanath which is also popularly known as Baba Sidheshwarnath temple is a “Shiva” temple in the area which is famously known as “Magadha’s Baidynathdham temple” of Deoghar in Jharkhand. It is located at one of the hillocks in the Barabar range of hills. The temple was built during seventh century A.D. of Gupta period and the legends attribute the construction of the temple to king Bana, father-in-law of the legendary king Jarasandha of ancient Rajgriha (Rajgir) which is located about 30 kms from Jehanabad. The famous Barabar caves are situated in the hilly area of Makhdumpur, some 25 kms south of Jehanabad district headquarters.
The local people, though, blamed local administration for not taking “precautionary measures” to tackle the huge crowd gathered at the temple on this holy day to offer worship. Some volunteers along with police personnel deputed at the temple site to manage crowds are said to have allegedly used batons to control them which led to the stampede, eyewitnesses told local media persons. “There was total mismanagement at the temple site and no mechanism for crowd management except deployment of few policemen and volunteers there”, alleged Mr Sharma.
Earlier, over 100 devotees had died in a religious congregation at a place dedicated to Baba Narayan Hari in Hathras in neighbouring State of Uttar Pradesh.
