Puri stampede report goes missing

Crowd management crucial as 50 lakh people to witness Nabakalebar 

Bhubaneswar, March 17: The judicial commission's report on 1993 stampede that took place on the premises of Jagannath temple in Puri has reportedly gone missing from the state secretariat. The tragedy had claimed three lives. 

The stampede occurred when a huge crowd had gathered in the temple to witness the Nagarjuna Vesha (when the deities are dressed like warriors) of Lord Jagannath. Police had failed to control the devotees. While three devotees were asphyxiated to death, many others suffered injuries. 

Following a hue and cry, the then Janata Dal government, led by Biju Patnaik, father of incumbent chief minister Naveen Patnaik, had appointed a commission, headed by former Orissa High Court Justice Jiban Mohan Mohapatra on December 5, 1993, to probe the tragedy. 

The issue of the file containing the commission's report having gone missing came to light today when law minister Arun Sahu told the Assembly about it while replying to a question of the BJP's Rourkela MLA Dillip Ray. 

The minister said the commission's report that had submitted to the then chief minister, J.B. Patnaik, in 1995 had not reached his department. Sahu said: "Justice Mohapatra informed the state government that he submitted the report to the then chief minister, J.B. Patnaik, on August 31, 1995. But, the report has yet to reach the law department." 

However, J.B. Patnaik told The Telegraph that the state government had knowingly made such a statement in the House to mislead the people. 

"One must know that a judicial commission submits not just a single report to the chief minister. It also submits it copies to the home department and the law department. Where are those copies now? It should be inquired," said Patnaik. Patnaik also said such reports were kept by the Chief Minister's Office and not by the chief minister himself. "Earlier, I had also made it clear that the report is not with me. Now, efforts should be made to find out where the report is lying." 

The judicial commission's report assumes significance, as crowd management would be a major issue during the upcoming Nabakalebar of Lord Jagannath and His siblings when their idols will be replaced with the new ones. Nearly 50 lakh people are expected to congregate in Puri to witness the event in July. 

Sources said Justice Mohapatra had passed adverse remarks against some political leaders, administrators and the police in his report and made some valuable recommendations to avoid repetition of such unfortunate incident in the Jagannath temple. 

But, as the successive governments have found it difficult to accept the recommendations, the report could never come to light. 

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