A woman from Maharashtra died and three women went missing in a stampede-like situation on the first day of the Rudraksh Mahotsav at Kubershwar Dham in Madhya PradeshтАЩs Sehore on Thursday, police said.
Over 20,000 vehicles got stuck in a traffic jam on Indore-Bhopal highway allegedly due to mismanagement and over 3,000 people, visiting the Dham, fell ill or were injured due to the stampede-like condition, police added.
According to police and district administration officials,over five lakh people reached Kubershwar dham to collect Rudraksh being distributed by self-styled god man and spiritual story teller Pradeep Mishra.
Mandi police station assistant sub-inspector Dharam Singh Verma said, тАЬMangala Bai (50), a resident of Malegaon in Nashik, Maharashtra, suddenly fell ill. She fell down and died. Three women from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, Gangapur in Rajasthan and Buldhana in Maharashtra went missing and the family members have filed missing complaints at the police station.тАЭ
The district administration and police officials are trying to manage the crowd along with 15,000 volunteers.
Pandit Pradeep Mishra accused the administration for mismanagement. тАЬPeople are afraid of death. They said they we will not go to Kedarnath. It is very cold there, what if something happens. If death has to come, it will come so people shouldnтАЩt be afraid of death,тАЭ he said.
Last year too, the programme was cancelled due to traffic jam at Indore-Bhopal Highway.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was also about to visit the programme but he cancelled after news of the mismanagement.
The superintendent of police (SP) and collector couldnтАЩt be contacted for their comment despite repeated attempts.
