Panaji: Ahead of the Shree Lairai Temple festival in North Goa, the state police had issued several instructions to the temple committee, including the installation of CCTV cameras at the entrance and exit, and also putting up barricades, which were not implemented.
Six people died and several others were injured in a stampede at the Shree Lairai Temple at Shirgao village in North Goa during the early hours of Saturday.
While the meeting held between police, district administration, and the Shree Lairai Temple committee on April 30 ahead of the festival had asked the committee to install CCTV cameras at the entrance and exit and also put “proper barricading wherever possible,” the recommendations were not implemented.
The meeting was attended by then Superintendent of Police (North) Akshat Kaushal, then Deputy Superintendent of Police (Bicholim) Jivba Dalvi, Deputy Collector (Bicholim) Bhimnath Khorjuvekar, Temple Committee President Dinanath Gaonkar, and others.
The minutes of the meeting read that “the temple committee is asked to install CCTV at all the entry and exit points, crowded areas, near the temple and Homkhand, along with a CCTV control room wherein adequate police staff also would be provided.”
“The temple committee is also requested to make necessary arrangements with regard to the maintenance of queues with proper barricading wherever required. The committee is also required to assist police in crowd control and management during the festival,” the minutes read.
When contacted, Temple Committee President Dinanath Gaonkar, on Monday, said that there was not enough time to install the CCTV cameras.
“You require at least 10–15 days to install these cameras. The meeting was only a couple of days ahead of the festival,” he said.
Gaonkar said that the barricading was not done considering the past experience of devotees suffering injuries in previous years.
The temple committee has said that they have already deposed before the fact-finding inquiry committee constituted by the state government, in which they have provided all the details.
