NT Reporter
Bicholim
Following the stampede during the famous Shri Lairai Devi jatra earlier this year, the temple committee has resolved to adopt precautionary measures for future festivities.
Temple committee president Dinanath Gaonkar said that as part of these measures, the committee has started registering dhonds who perform agnidivya on jatra day.
So far, about 20,000 dhonds have registered, and the process will continue till October.
Registrants must fill out forms with details, including the place where they observe vrat, so that the committee has records of their residence.
Identity cards will be issued to all dhonds, and the committee has asked those who have not registered to do so at the earliest.
Mayem MLA Premendra Shet told reporters that the government has proposed a bypass road from Manaswada to Assonora bridge via fields, with work to begin after obtaining NOCs from villagers.
Shet said that the PWD has inspected the hillock from where dhonds run down to perform agnidivya, and hill-cutting work will be undertaken once the monsoon season ends.
The fact-finding committee that had been formed to probe the Shirgao jatra stampede that occurred on May 3 found that the tragedy specifically pointed to the absence of basic crowd control infrastructure, disregard for specific administrative instructions, failure to utilise modern surveillance tools, contributed to the critical breakdown in safety during the
jatra. The immediate trigger was overcrowding on the sloped pathway between Tali and homkhand compounded by the sudden surge and forward movement of a group of dhonds.
