Panaji: The Goa government is pulling out all stops to ensure there is no repeat of last year’s stampede during the annual temple pilgrimage festival, Jatra, at the Lairai Devi temple in Shirgao village that killed six people, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Thursday.
Speaking after visiting the village to review this year’s preparations, the Chief Minister said, “In order to ensure that the kind of incident that happened last year never repeats, the government is taking all necessary precautions. From our side, the government has improved infrastructure and taken several precautions: temporary crowd enforcement measures like barricades, clearing encroachments from the route, etc.”
“The routes, timings, etc. will be announced in advance via newspapers. If followed, I feel such incidents will not repeat,” he added.
Also read: ‘Crowd mismanagement’: Report on Goa temple stampede that killed 6 submitted
Six people died and 70 others sustained injuries in the stampede near the Sree Lairai Devi temple in Shirgao when thousands of devotees thronged the road leading to the temple for the “jatra”, an annual pilgrimage festival, on May 3, 2025. The same festival falls on April 21 this year.
“Work has already begun, and will be completed 15 days before the start of the zatra,” Sawant said.
Last week, the state government, via the office of the Deputy Collector of the Bicholim sub-division, issued orders under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, prohibiting the installation of any temporary structure along the roads, pathways and other access routes toward the temple without prior written permission from the competent authority.
The order also banned vehicle parking or the installation of equipment or material along the route, and mandated the removal of all unauthorised structures, among other strictures.
