BHOPAL: Stampede at Chitrakoot temple on Monday is a chilling reminder of Shivraj government 's obduracy to learn lessons from similar tragedies that occurred in 2006 and 2013 at Ratangarh temple of Datia district. Probes into these stampedes that resulted in about 200 casualties had recommended enough safeguards for government to follow during assembly of large number of devotees. But they seemed to have been confined in files rather than being put into practice.

Government had been sitting on investigative reports of these tragedies, especially October 13, 2013 - Ratangarh incident, in which 115 people were killed.

On October 15, 2013 a judicial commission was constituted by chief minister to probe Ratangarh stampede. Commission headed by retired high court judge Rakesh Saxena was asked to submit its report in two-months and chief minister Chouhan promised action within 15 days of its submission. On November 26, Saxena Commission sought two-months extension to complete the inquiry. For a judicial commission report to be implemented it needs to be accepted by the Cabinet and tabled in the Assembly. Despite submission of the report before the last assembly session, it has not been tabled in the House yet.

On November 12, 2013, Gwalior bench of Madhya Pradesh high court ordered a CBI probe into the tragedy on a petition filed by an RTI activist, Gaurav Pandey. Petitioner said though state government has constituted a judicial commission and state's human rights commission is also probing the matter, victims would get justice only if CBI conducts investigation into the tragedy. CBI has submitted its report with the state government.

The bench fixed a four-point mandate to CBI for probe: Whether police was taking bribe from pilgrims for allowing them to pass through the bridge? If any rumour was spread that bridge is about to collapse? Whether policemen have thrown dead pilgrims and injured ones into Sindh river and whether there was negligence on part of police before and after the tragedy?

Court also directed CBI to probe role of then collector and superintendent of police (SP), besides other officials in connection with the incident. Justice SK Pandey report on 2006 tragedy at same temple was tabled in MP Assembly on July 22, 2014 giving a clean chit to IAS officer and then collector M Geeta and then SP Pramod Verma.

An NGO, Prayatna, led by RTI activist Ajay Dubey is all set to move MP high court against the report. "The officers have been given a clean chit despite adverse remarks by Justice Pandey," says Dubey.

Non-compliance of recommendations: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) got a study conducted through Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad on how to stop such incidents in future. Another study was carried out by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. However, recommendations made in both studies were not complied with in MP, said sources.

October 2013 Ratangarh tragedy echoed in Rajya Sabha too. On February 5, 2014, the then Union Home Minister was asked (a) whether prompted by killing of 115 people in a stampede at a temple in Madhya Pradesh in October last year, the National Disaster Management Authority has commissioned a study by the IIM, Ahmedabad to prevent recurrence of such tragedies at religious shrines; (b) whether the study has revealed that most of the shrines frequented by devotees in large numbers are located atop hills or mountains with mostly uneven terrain and narrow winding up pathways; and(c) the salient features of the guidelines drawn by IIM study for better crowd management at religious shrines during festivals/melas?

MHA replied study on crowd management was commissioned by NDMA before occurrence of stampede in Oct, 2013 at a temple in Madhya Pradesh. Objective of the study was to prevent/mitigate such tragedies at religious and other venues of mass gathering. "The study pointed out that a large number of religious sites in the country are located atop hills/mountains with difficult terrain," MHA had replied.

Ministry said the document "Crowd Management" provides guidance on "preparation and planning" to event administrators and organisers for safe conduct of events and venues involving mass gathering. It also provides a format of event approval application which can be used by the local licensing / approving authorities.

Crowd Management guide document suggested undertaking hazards, risk and vulnerability assessment, preparing crowd management plan covering components ? safety and security, emergency medical services, transportation and traffic management, information gathering dissemination, lost and found, evacuation and shelter and crowd management. It also recommended collaborative planning involving organisers, administrator, surrounding community, local and district disaster management authority.

