Stampede report: Blame game begins

KOCHI: The police, the forest department and the Travancore Devaswom Board, which governs the Sabarimala temple, have indirectly blamed other agencies for not taking measures to prevent the stampede at Pulmedu on January 14, which killed 102 pilgrims.

The three on Thursday filed separate reports before a division bench of the Kerala high court on the factors that led to the stampede. In the reports, filed in response to a directive from the bench, each tried to shrug off its role in the incident, the worst in the history of the hill shrine.

The police claimed they had deployed adequate personnel in Pulmedu. Since the area was part of the Periyar Tiger Reserve, they didn't get the required sanction from the forest department to put additional security arrangements in place, they said.

The forest department claimed that the entry of numerous vehicles into the area and the paucity of security personnel to control the consequent rush and altercations led to the stampede. It claimed enough personnel had been deployed, but they were under pressure to let in more devotees through the route even though it was part of the buffer zone of the tiger reserve. The devaswom report blamed both the police and forest departments for the tragedy, saying enough police personnel had not been deployed at Pulmedu, which was an alternative route to the Sabarimala temple. It alleged that the forest department had not provided the required clearance to provide adequate infrastructure and security arrangements.

The bench comprising Justice Thottathil Radhakrishnan and Justice P S Gopinath suggested that pilgrimage through the Pulmedu route be banned if the authorities are not able to provide adequate security and other infrastructure. They asked the government to clarify why it had not made sufficient arrangements even after realising that the route was being used by so many pilgrims.