One dead, nine injured in Makar mela stampede in Cuttack shrine

Bhubaneswar: A woman died, and nine others sustained injuries in a stampede on a bridge connecting Baramba-Gopinathpur road with Singhanath temple, a Shiva shrine, in Badamba area of Cuttack district on Saturday.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the mela could not be conducted during the last two years. “That’s why many people thronged the shrine this year. The T-bridge was opened to the public one year ago. There was a stampede-like situation on the T-bridge over Mahanadi river due to influx of heavy crowds at the same time,” said Baramba MLA Debiprasad Mishra, who was present at the spot.
The deceased was identified as Anjana Swain, 45, from Pathapur village under Baraput gram panchayat in Cuttack district.
“The bridge connects the shrine which is located on an island inside Mahanadi. There was a rush of devotees on the bridge who had gathered to visit Singhanath temple on Makara mela,” another official said. Hearing about the accident, chief minister Naveen Patnaik expressed grief and announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia to the next of kin of the deceased. He also directed the officials to provide free treatment to the injured people.
“We have imposed section 144 of CrPC in the shrine for the next two days. Around 1.5 lakh people have gathered at the shrine for Makar mela. We have paid immediate assistance of Rs 10,000 to the injured people and Rs 20,000 to the deceased’s family,” said Cuttack district collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani.
He said nine people were injured in the incident. Five of them were undergoing treatment at Baramba government hospital. Four of them were shifted to the SCB medical college and hospital at Cuttack, he added.
A senior official of the district administration said they did not expect a huge turnout, but the shrine received more than one lakh people at a time between 11 am and 2 pm.