Learning from tragedy

The stampede at the Naina Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur district appears to have been entirely avoidable. The Shravan Ashtami fairs attract hundreds of pilgrims a day to each of that state’s many temples; remote though they are, the numbers have been growing yearly. The basic infrastructure at such places across the country, however, is yet to catch up.

Rural districts with historic temples are profiting from the explosion of religious tourism brought on by increased road access and a freshly mobile middle class. Few of those resources are being farmed back into investing in keeping those tourists secure. Larger events have seen some improvement of late: the last Ardh Kumbh Mela in 2007 and the Rath Yatras in Puri have invested in updated crowd control measures and even offer catastrophe insurance to pilgrims, which helps with funding. Smaller events need to learn which procedures can be adopted and adapt them to their needs. The local administration needs to work closely with temple authorities to ensure this happens. Temple trusts too must shed their antiquated structure, enter the modern age, and raise funds on the markets; people are, after all, always willing to pay for their security, and smaller trusts should recognise that the non-religious part of their activities can be expanded and made to pay sufficiently that investments can be recouped.

In the midst of the politicisation of the Amarnath yatra, it is well to remember that the safety of pilgrims, who are often driven by religious impulses to some of the most inaccessible and far-flung parts of the country, is a universal problem, and not one linked to particular strife-torn areas. Navratra in the Shakti peeths of Himachal Pradesh will be subdued this year, and there will no doubt be a sudden flood of policemen at the other shrines, Chamunda and Brajeshwari. We can but hope that once the pilgrims have left, some changes will be made that ensure such disasters do not happen again.