Kerala overlooked warnings on Sabarimala tragedy

Kochi, Jan 18: India has just recovered from the shock after the stampede in the hill shrine in Kerala that led to the death of 102 people in Sabarimala. The Kerala High Court had asked for a detailed explanation from police, forest officials and the temple authorities on how the stampede occurred in Pullumedu .

The Kerala High Court on Monday rapped the state government for ignoring numerous warnings on the alarming number of pilgrims that descended on the hillock to witness the makarajyothi.

A Division bench comprising Justice Thottathil Radhakrishnan and Justice P S Gopinathan had sought the report from police, forest and the Travancore Devaswom Board officials to ascertain on what led to the massive tragedy.

The bench observed that it was lack of co-ordination among various entities that led to the disaster.

The Bench recalled its warnings to those concerned and had reiterated the need to have better plan to regulate the huge influx of pilgrims to the temple and said, "The high court also asked the government to furnish the details of the help provided to the injured and those stranded in the Pullumedu route in the forest area after the tragedy."

Meanwhile, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has offered to provide satellite images of Sabarimala to the State Government for the infrastructure development of the area so as to avoid disasters like the Pullumedu stampede to occur in the future. "ISRO has now three dimensional (3D) images of Sabarimala taken by three satellites equipped with remote sensing imaging technology. These images will be handed over to Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) for future use. The images can be used to assess the geographic features of even the unapproachable lands and improve infrastructure in Sabarimala area," said K Radhakrishnan, ISRO Chairman.

OneIndia News