Judicial inquiry ordered into Jagannath stampede

Bhubaneswar, Nov 4: The Orissa government ordered a judicial inquiry by a sitting high court judge into today's stampede inside the Jagannath Temple at Puri in which four devotees were killed and 25 injured.

Law Minister B B Harichandan, who apprised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of the incident, said the state government would request Orissa High Court Chief Justice to nominate a sitting judge to head the one-man Commission.

Mr Harichandan, while expressing his deep shock at the unfortunate incident inside the temple during 'mangala alati' of Lord Jagannath, said the state government had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and would bear the medical expenses of all the injured.

The minister said Director General of Police Amarananda Pattnaik and state Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra had already rushed to the temple to take stock of the situation.

He said he and Health Minister Duryadhan Majhi would visit Puri to make an on the spot probe. Strong action would be taken against the temple and police officials if found guilty for their negligence, he said.

UNI

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