9 school children injured in stampede; students to get separate queue at Puri Jagannath temple

PURI : A day after nine students were injured in a mini stampede at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, the district administration has decided to introduce a separate queue for school children to enter the 12th-century shrine, an official said on Tuesday.

The nine injured school students, all of them girls, were released from a hospital here earlier in the day and they have left for home in Mayurbhanj district, Puri Superintendent of Police KV Singh said. Earlier reports said that six students were injured in the crowded temple on Monday night.

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“We have introduced a separate queue for school children (in the temple) from today keeping in view the arrival of pupils during the winter vacation. Now many schoolchildren are coming for picnics to Puri and going to the temple,” Singh said.

The new queue will not be there after the vacation, he said. The nine students who were hospitalised on Monday night were also part of a 70-member group of boys and girls from Hrudananda High School in Rasgovindpur area of Mayurbhanj district, who had come to Puri for a picnic during the Christmas holidays.

It was reported on Monday night that six girls were caught in a mini stampede and fainted while climbing the 22 steps ('Baisi Pahacha') to the temple at around 8 pm. “We had reported injury of six children. Actually, three more also fainted and were admitted to the hospital. They were dehydrated and were administered saline,” the Puri SP said.

They had to wait in a queue for almost two hours before reaching the steps. All of them were discharged from the hospital on Tuesday morning, he said adding that they have left for their home in Rasgovidpur area in Mayurbhanj district.