Sheer negligence: On the Puri stampede
India’s shameful VIP culture has no place in public events
There have been nine stampedes in India in the past 12 months, with six of them at religious gatherings. This includes the most recent one, at the storied Jagannath temple’s annual chariot procession in Puri, Odisha, early on June 29, 2025. Three people were killed and more than 50 injured. Acknowledging “negligence “and “security lapses”, the State government was swift to order a probe. The centuries-old chariot procession is an annual and month-long event between June and July. But the heart of the festival is the nine-day chariot procession, or Rath Yatra, when Lord Jagannath travels with his two siblings, Balabhadra and Subhadra, to their aunt Gundicha’s home. About half a million devotees visit the three-kilometre radius around the temple. While a full investigation is pending, initial reports suggest that tell-tale signs of a stampede were overlooked.
On the first day of the yatra, officials paused the drawing of Lord Jagannath’s chariot around 7.45 p.m. because of an ‘unprecedented rush’, allowing only Balabhadra’s and Subhadra’s chariots to move. The Jagannath chariot was moved symbolically and deferred till early on Saturday. In the intervening hours, about 750 devotees were hospitalised due to heat, dehydration, and crowd stress. Eyewitnesses reported that a common exit gate was closed to create a separate “VIP entry,” forcing everyday pilgrims to exit through the same entrance path that was already congested. A single corridor that was being used for the flow in both directions resulted in more congestion, amplifying crowd pressure. The delayed arrival of the chariot also caused a bottleneck outside the Gundicha temple just before dawn. With exhausted pilgrims, merged traffic flows and no exit access, the stage was set for a tragedy. Further, trucks with ritual materials entered this zone at 4.20 a.m. This unexpected movement shattered stalls, toppled devotees and triggered panic. This daily has highlighted India’s tawdry record in crowd management, at religious gatherings, celebrity-studded events, political rallies or post sporting festivities. Given that the climate discourse is at front and centre globally, providing thermal comfort, hydration facilities and taking precautions to shield women, children and the elderly from the heat especially during peak summer should have been woven into the conduct of the rath yatra years ago. As for VIPs, one way is to restrict any privileged entry and to provide access at the beginning or at the end of festivities, allowing other visitors predictable and barrier-free access. But the best way is to end India’s entrenched VIP culture.