After Haridwar stampede, Uttarakhand has a ‘masterplan’ for religious sites

The plan will focus on sites that attract a large number of pilgrims — including Kainchi Dham, Neelkanth, and Jageshwar – and is expected to make provision for other essential facilities. Taking note of the shops encroaching on the stairway where the stampede took place, the order asks for such encroachments to be removed.

According to officials, the master plan will include nine points, which includes access to clean drinking water, toilets, first aid, well-structured information and guidance systems, parking arrangements, and adequate security.

The divisional commissioners of both Garhwal and Kumaon regions have been directed to provide special assistance in the preparation and implementation of the plan.

Director General of Information Department Banshidhar Tiwari said that the government will carry out carrying capacity studies at major sites to ascertain how many people can be hosted per square metre at a time.

Shops in the vicinity of the temples will be reorganised and devotees will be made to register so the number of devotees can be regulated.

“The committees will look into the possibility of improving access and whether new paths can be built to improve crowd control. There will also be a controlled release of the crowd once the carrying capacity is ascertained,” he said, adding the plan will be prepared in six months.

The stampede at Haridwar’s Mansa Devi temple is believed to have been triggered by panic over a rumoured electrical hazard around 100 metres from the temple’s entrance. However, the narrowness of the ramp, inadequate security, the single entry and exit point, and a heavily clogged stairway are all believed to have compounded the problem.