Pilgrims unfazed after Pushkaram tragedy, numbers swell

Two days after the stampede, in which 27 pilgrims were killed, the Godavari ‘Pushkaram’ witnessed huge rush of devotees on Thursday on the occasion of ‘Amavasya’ even as officials said the 12-day religious event was going on without any hitch.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the government would ensure that such tragedies do not recur and that pilgrims don't face further trouble during the festival.

“Absolutely normal. Today, it has exceeded the first day’s footfall. First day, we had around 6.4 lakh (pilgrims) by noon (in six bathing ghats here). Today, we had seven lakh odd. We are expecting it will cross 10 lakh,” said East Godavari District Collector H Arun Kumar.

'Amavasya' is considered auspicious for performing rituals for departed elders as lakhs of people took holy dip and performed puja on Thursday.

The number of pilgrims is expected to rise further over the weekend and also towards end of the event on July 25.

Earlier, addressing a gathering after distributing ex-gratia cheques to stampede victims at Anam Kalkendram on Wednesday night, Naidu said, “Our government commenced the work (on arrangements for the holy dip) four months ahead with an aim to provide all facilities to pilgrims, but unfortunately many of them swarmed to one bathing ghat and this happened.” 

"Now, queue management has been introduced for smooth movement of pilgrims to ghats, while they proceed to take a dip and vice-versa," he said.