CM makes fact-finding team's report public; blame pinned collectively on district admin, police, temple committee and local panchayat
PANAJI
The State government has issued show cause notices to eight top officials, including the then North Goa Collector Sneha Gite, IAS, SP (North) Akshat Kaushal, IPS, Bicholim SDO and SDPO among others allegedly for lapses on their part leading to the tragic stampede at the Devi Lairai Zatra which left six dead and several injured in the wee hours of May 3.
The show cause notices were issued in the light of the fact-finding committee led by Commissioner and Revenue Secretary, Sandeep Jacques, IAS, in its report having held the district administration, district police, the temple committee and local panchayat collectively responsible for the conditions which led to crowd mismanagement causing the stampede.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant made the report public at a specially called press conference on Tuesday evening which he addressed accompanied by Chief Secretary Dr Candavelou.
Sawant said, the Jacques-led panel in its report has found lapses on the part of all – the district administration, police, the temple committee and the local panchayat.
He had said that show cause notices will be issued to the officers and hours later the administration followed up by issuing these notices to Gite, Kaushal, the then Bicholim Deputy Collector, then Bicholim SDPO Jivba Dalvi, Bicholim Mamlatdar, Shirgao panchayat secretary and the Police Inspectors in-charge of Bicholim and Mopa police stations.
Meanwhile, Sawant said the police will continue investigating the FIR they have already registered against 'unknown persons' and it will take its own course.
He said, the report found that 'crowd mismanagement' was the cause of stampede.
"It found that a lady was the first to fall to the ground and others fell over her along the sloping pathway between the tali (sacred pond) and `homkund' where fire is lit for the rituals," Sawant said, adding that this pathway was too narrow with stalls lining it on both sides.
Sawant also said that the report had indicted the temple committee for not appropriately cooperating with the administration to make adequate arrangements for an orderly crowd movement.
"There was no strategic deployment of police force and the coordination among the personnel was very poor," Sawant said, adding that the Jacques committee report was perused by himself and Dr Candavelou separately.
Sawant also said that the report found inadequate measures by the police like no watch-towers installed.
It also mentioned that the panchayat – either the secretary or panchayat – were responsible for issuing NOCs for setting up stalls without conducting any inspections or assessing the area, Sawant added.
Eye-opener, advance measures for such festivals in future: CM
PANAJI: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the tragic incident was sad but the probe by the committee has shown us that it is an 'eye opener' for the government and a list of such festivals will be made to ensure precautionary measures are taken in advance.
"Such an incident of a stampede where people died has never ever happened in Goa before," Sawant said even as he assured that recommendations of the committee's report for the future will be implemented in earnest.
He said, a 'Standard Operating Procedure' for various festivals under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) will be notified after consulting temple committees across the State.
Sawant said all religious and other festivals where large crowds are expected will mandatorily require to have a 'crowd management plan' approved under the Disaster Management Act norms and a nodal officer will be appointed for the purpose.
