In a damage control measure, the Jodhpur royal family, which runs the Chamunda Devi shrine, has announced a hefty compensation package on Friday for the kin of those killed in the stampede on September 30.The family is also contemplating rehashing security arrangements and better infrastructure for managing the crowd on festive days, including construction of a new entrance. The disaster, which left 224 dead and scores injured, had occurred just as the doors of the temple were being opened for worship at dawn for more than 20,000 people celebrating Navratri.The announcement came a day after the city witnessed the first ever agitation against the royal family and the Meherangadh Fort Museum trust for not taking adequate crowd control measures resulting in the deaths. Around 150 protestors assembled near the Rajiv Gandhi statue in Nai Sarak, shouted slogans and burned effigy of the erstwhile maharaja Gaj Singh. The royal scion and his mother, Rajmata Krishna Kumari advertised in local newspapers announcing setting up of a Rs 1-crore trust to aid the families of the deceased and expressed their solidarity with the people of Jodhpur. Incidentally, the royal family is close to the Vasundhara Raje-led state Government and sources in the BJP said they had requested Gaj Singh’s wife Hemlata Raje to contest the upcoming polls opposite senior Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot. The advertisement said, help would be provided to those who lost a earning member or children and to the needy. It also promised to help those families who had daughters of a marriageable age. The package includes pension to widows and free medical treatment for the dependents of the deceased.
