Lucknow ,March 4: Sixty-five people were killed and over 200 seriously injured in a stampede at the Mangadh Ashram in Kunda, in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district, on Thursday. Sources, however, said the death toll was much higher. The victims included 37 children and 26 women.

UP chief minister Mayawati has directed the commissioner, Allahabad, to conduct a high-level inquiry into the incident and submit his report within 24 hours. State Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh told reporters that the CM has also sent two ministers, Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Swami Prasad Maurya, to supervise relief work.
The stampede took place when an iron gate collapsed at the venue where thousands had collected to participate in a “bhandara (community feast)”  organised at the ashram of Sri Kripaluji Maharaj.
The crowds, comprising mainly women, children and elderly persons, started running for safety as soon as the gate collapsed and in the process fell over each other. The injured were rushed to the ashram hospital and the adjoining primary health centres. Those with serious injuries were taken to Allahabad for treatment.
Senior district and police officials reached the site of the incident to supervise rescue and relief operations.
According to eye-witnesses, a congregation of around 50,000 persons was present in the ashram on Thursday to participate in the “bhandara” to mark the “shraadh (a post-death ritual)” of Sri Kripalu Maharaj’s wife. The ashram authorities were distributing clothes and utensils to devotees when the crowd grew restive.
The ashram authorities ordered the closure of the main gate to restore some semblance of order but the devotees who were locked outside began pushing to gain entry. The pressure increased and the main gate of the ashram collapsed. While some died on being crushed under the weight of the gate, others lost their lives in the stampede that ensued.
The Mangadh ashram, located about 80 km from the district headquarters of Pratapgarh, has a tiny hospital on the premises which is apparently not equipped to deal with this kind of emergency. The injured had to be taken to the nearby primary health centre and nursing homes and were later referred to Allahabad.
A team of doctors and ambulances were later rushed to the ashram from Allahabad and Lucknow.
Raghuraj Pratap Singh, also known as Raja Bhaiyya, the local MLA from Kunda, also rushed in with his supporters to help in rescue work. “The majority of the victims were women and children and the delay in providing medical assistance could lead to an increase in the number of deaths,” he told this correspondent over the telephone.

Amita Verma