Odisha govt orders action against 7 police officers for lapses leading to stampede in Puri

The Odisha government has ordered action against seven police officers and a private technology firm over the lapses that led to a stampede in Puri in which three people were killed and 20 others injured, official sources said on Saturday. In a recent letter to the DGP, the additional secretary in the Home department said that the action to be taken as per the recommendation of the inquiry conducted by Development Commissioner cum Additional Chief Secretary Anu Garg on the stampede incident near Shree Gundicha Temple, during Rath Yatra in Puri on June 29 this year. Garg had submitted her report to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who is also in charge of the Home department, on July 31. At least three people, including two women, were killed and 20 others injured in the stampede that took place at around 4 am on June 29, in front of the chariots near the Shree Gundicha temple, as two trucks carrying some wood for rituals entered the area.

The report found lapses on part of police officers Ajay Kumar Padhi, Commandant, OSAP 3rd Battalion, Koraput; Vishnu Prasad Pati, DCP (HQ), Bhubaneswar–Cuttack; Tapas Ranjan Das, Commandant, SSMSV, Puri; K K Nayak, Deputy Commandant, SSMSV, Puri; Prasanta Kumar Sahoo, DSP City, Puri; Susanta Kumar Sahoo, IIC, Kumbharapada Police Station and Sarada Prasad Dash, Commandant, OSAP 8th Battalion, Chhatrapur. The inquiry found that the two senior-most officers in charge of crowd management — Padhi and Pati — were absent from the spot when the stampede took place. They were supposed to manage the crowd near the chariots, the probe report said, adding that their negligence and dereliction of duty are confirmed in the inquiry. While they have already been placed under suspension, it is recommended that disciplinary proceedings may be initiated against them, the Home department letter to the DGP said. The inquiry also found serious deficiencies in the AI-based surveillance and crowd monitoring system installed under the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) in Puri. Of the 275 cameras sanctioned, only 123 were operational, leaving several key zones unsupervised, the report said. The inquiry report recommended to blacklist the ICCC vendor and disciplinary action against an officer. Immediately after the stampede on June 29, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had transferred the then Puri District Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain, SP V Agrawal.