Three policemen, two doctors and 30 forest officials formed the state administration team at Pullumedu in Kerala's Idukki district to take care of 3 lakh pilgrims.

Absence of proper roads, communication facilities and a crisis management team on the spot made rescue operations impossible and took the toll of Friday night's stampede to 102.

How casually the state government handled the pilgrimage centre is evident from the fact that Pullumedu, which has been attracting thousands of pilgrims every year, does not even have a single toilet or drinking water.

This is how the stampede, which exposed the shocking lack of preparation, happened:

Nearly 3 lakh devotees were waiting to have a glimpse of Makara Jyoti, believed to be a celestial light on the Sankranti day by the devotees of Sabarimala's Lord Ayyappa, on the slopes of four hillocks at Pullumedu, 8 km from the shrine, within the Periyar Tiger Reserve. As soon as the the light was seen around 7 pm, the pilgrims rushed down to the vehicles waiting at Uppupara, a junction one km away, which comes alive only during the pilgrim season.

Thousands of pilgrims were coming down the roadwhich, with make-shift eateries and shops on either side, narrows down when it reaches the junctionwhile taxi and autorickshaw drivers waited to pick up commuters and shuttle to nearby towns of Vandiperiyar and Kumili.

At 8.15 pm, drivers of a jeep and an autorickshaw got into a fight over passengers. A group of pilgrims got into the jeep, while a few of them climbed on its top. As the jeep and the auto blocked the road, the pilgrims, who were coming down from the hills and could not move further, got restless.

A section tried to pull the auto to one side of the road. Suddenly, the jeep started moving and the pilgrims on its top fell down, triggering a stampede.

... contd.

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