Bhubaneswar: Those who visited Puri late Saturday night said they could easily make their way through the town without restrictions to reach close to the chariots, leading to a surge in the crowd. From all three access points — Bata Mangala en route to Jail Road, New Beach and Malatipatapur en route to Narendra Puskarini and the district headquarters hospital close to the parking lot — devotees converged to go near the chariots. By then, the perimeter around the chariots was already crowded.“We parked our car near the hospital. We were apprehensive that police would stop us from parking there. Then, we walked towards Gundicha Temple. It was about 3:50am, and we couldn’t imagine (unlike previous years) that we would make our way close to the chariots. We were near Lord Jagannath’s chariot and were pushed from the left side. We saw a truck making its way into the crowd. We were lucky to be pushed in one direction towards a banyan tree, a little away from the three chariots. Those who got trapped in the middle were affected,” said Niten Panigrahi, a devotee, who came with four of his family.He said they just tried to get out of Puri as they felt unsafe. “Such a mega festival and a sensitive place in terms of security, but there was no police in sight when we were walking. We didn’t see senior officers guiding lower-rung police personnel. We asked a police officer about the incident, and he advised us to leave as there was thin presence of cops,” Panigrahi’s wife, Nita, said.Those who visited between 1am and 3am said the traffic was slow while returning after darshan, but going to Puri was smooth. “Considering the carrying capacity in front of Gundicha Temple, police should have released vehicles from Malatipatapur checkpoints in a staggered manner,” Basudev Mishra, a lawyer who visited on Saturday night, said.
