Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a committee to probe the incident of deaths due to suffocation and stampede at Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan during Mangal Aarti on the occasion of Shri Krishna Janmashtami, official sources said here on Sunday.
The Chief Minister office said the committee composed of former Director General of Police (DGP) Sulkhan Singh and Divisional Commissioner of Aligarh Gaurav Dayal has been asked to probe the different aspects related to the incident and submit its report within 15 days.
While the former DGP has been appointed as the chairman of the committee, the commissioner will assist him as a member.
In an order issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi late on Saturday night, the committee has been asked to probe under what circumstances the incident occurred. Along with this, the committee has also been asked to tell how to improve the arrangements at the temple premises, so that such incidents do not recur in the future in the wake of the apprehension of increasing crowds.
It may be noted that two persons died due to suffocation and seven were taken ill when a heavy crowd gathered at Banke Bihari temple located in Vrindavan for Mangal Aarti on the occasion of Shri Krishna Janmashtami.
District Magistrate Navneet Singh Chahal said that two persons, including Nirmala Devi (55), a resident of Noida, and Ram Prakash (65), a resident of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, died due to suffocation during Mangala Aarti on Friday night.
Expressing grief over loss of lives in the incident Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed the Home Department to make more stringent arrangements at the religious places in the wake of the crowd during festivals, so that any untoward incident can be averted.
He has also directed the officials to ensure proper treatment of those, who were taken ill, in the incident. (UNI)