UP: No check on overcrowding at Banke Bihari temple, 32-year-old woman faints due to suffocation

AGRA: Following a massive crowd gathering at the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan town of Mathura district on Sunday, a 32-year-old woman from Faridabad district fell unconscious due to high humidity and suffocation while she was trying to enter the temple premises. With no arrangement of an ambulance, the devotee was rushed to a nearby hospital in a police vehicle. Doctors claimed the woman recovered after primary treatment and is out of danger. Last month, two people died and seven others were injured in a stampede at the temple during the Janmashtami celebrations.
Vrindavan police station house officer SP Sharma said, "Resident of Ballabhgarh town, Mamta Pandey had come to Banke Bihari temple along with three others. While trying to enter through gate number 3, she fell down the stairs. She was quickly attended by the policemen on duty and shifted to a nearby hospital. After getting the required medical treatment, she recovered and later left for home."
Mamta's neighbour, Babita Sharma, who had accompanied her to the temple, said, "There was a huge crowd at the entrance gates of the temple when we went for Darshan at around 11:30 am. People were pushing each other while trying to get in. There were no arrangements for crowd management. Mamta complained of chest pain due to suffocation. She was also having difficulty breathing. While we were trying to get her out of the crowd, she fell unconscious on the temple's stairs."
After the death of two devotees inside the temple premises last month, the state government had constituted a "high-level committee" to investigate the incident and also suggest how to prevent such cases. The committee was led by former director general of police Sulkhan Singh, while divisional commissioner Aligarh, Gaurav Dayal, was appointed its member. Local authorities, too, were roped in the investigation. However, a Sevadar (volunteer) of the temple said, "So far, no substantial arrangement has been made for crowd management."
The temple is visited by over one lakh devotees on weekends on an average. Earlier, the state cabinet minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary had said that with a purpose to streamline the crowd movement, the state government is working on a plan to develop a dedicated corridor from the Yamuna river bank to the temple.