Janmashtami celebrations in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura took a tragic turn as two devotees lost their lives, and six were left injured due to suffocation caused by excessive crowd within the temple premises. A woman, who had come from Noida, suffocated to death during the ‘Mangla’ Aarti at the Banke Bihari temple on Friday.
A 65-year-old man from Jabalpur fainted and died. The incident was reported from Gate No. 4 near the temple exit. After a momentary delay, the darshan resumed, as per officials.
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Soon after the incident, the injured devotees were rushed to a nearby hospital. According to reports, the family of the deceased woman devotee has asked for her remains to be handed over without conducting a post-mortem. Expressing grief over the incident, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked the Home Department to take precautions and make strict arrangements for controlling the movement of devotees inside the temple so that in future such accidents do not take place.
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“CM has directed district administration officials to provide proper treatment to the injured; more stringent arrangements should be made,” tweeted the Chief minister’s Office (CMO).
On Friday, Yogi visited Mathura for Janmashtami celebrations. He inaugurated the Annapurna Bhavan where around 5,000 devotees coming to Mathura and Vrindavan will get free food daily. The two-storeyed Annapurna Bhavan is built on the Mathura-Vrindavan road and was built at an estimated cost of Rs 4.89 crore by the Uttar Pradesh Braj Teerth Vikas Parishad. The pilgrims will get free food both in the morning and in the evening. Annapurna Bhavan, which has two eateries, can serve at least two hundred people at the same time.
