PANAJI
The State government has assured the High Court of Bombay at Goa that it will implement a comprehensive set of safety measures for the upcoming Shirgao Lairai Devi zatra, as authorities attempt to avert a repeat of last year’s stampede that left six people dead and around 80 injured.
In submissions to the court, the State stated that it was strengthening crowd management protocols, emergency response systems, and interdepartmental coordination, anticipating the arrival of large numbers of devotees for the annual religious gathering.
The assurance came as the court continued to monitor preparedness for the upcoming festival, which has drawn heightened scrutiny since the 2025 tragedy. The government also referred to the findings of a fact-finding inquiry into the stampede, stating that a decision on the Devasthan Committee would be taken within a fixed timeframe. It indicated that further action would follow based on the panel’s recommendations.
At an earlier hearing last month, Advocate General Devidas Pangam had told the court that the administration was treating the matter with “utmost seriousness” and had already begun planning preventive measures.
The Bench had then sought to involve local stakeholders in the process and directed petitioners to work with the Deputy Collector to identify potential bottlenecks and stampede-prone zones on an official layout map of the temple area. The petitioners were asked to mark specific locations where crowd pressure could build, enabling authorities to design targeted crowd regulation measures. Once these points are identified, the Deputy Collector was instructed to initiate immediate preventive steps.
