JAMMU, JANUARY 1: The new year began on a sad note as 12 Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims were killed and 15 others injured, 13 of them seriously, following stampede at the holy shrine on Sunday.
While officials remained silent on the reasons for stampede, sources said attributed the stampede to an altercation between two groups of pilgrims in the Shrine Complex area where crowd of nearly 70,000 people in the Shrine Complex area which has a capacity of accommodating not more 20,000 people at a time.
Eye witnesses said that situation got aggravated after a few policemen deployed on duty resorted to mild lathicharged to control the situation.
Eight of the deceased have been identified so far. One of them is a local from J&K’s Nowshera area of Rajouri district, while seven
others were from Delhi, Haryana and UP.
Of the fifteen injured, two have been discharged from hospital.
The Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has ordered a high level enquiry into the incident. A three member team led by Principal Secretary Home and having Divisional Commissioner Jammu and Additional DGP Jammu as members has been constituted.
LG, who also happens to be the chairperson of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine Board which regulates the yatra, announced an ex-gratis of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs two lakh to each injured.