KOLKATA: Sixty-seven-year-old
Bankubikari Banerjee
, a priest, said he had never seen such crowds in last fifty years he has been in the temples at Panihati Mahotsavtala Ghat near Sodepur Traffic More in North 24 Parganas.
“The crowd was enormous. And suddenly there was a rush among devotees. Even I was thrown off balance. As I fell, I saw people jostling for space over me. I thought I will not survive,” he said. But he did. “A few woman devotees, who knew me, dragged me out and pushed me inside the temple. I am alive today because of them,” said
Banerjee
, visibly shaken.
Banerjee said he started working at the Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Sree Mandir
when he was six. “For the last two years, there has been no Mahotsav due to Covid. Maybe, that is the reason why so many devotees turned up today despite the heat and humidity,” he said.
Kalyani resident Jhulan Mondal (21) had come for the first time. “I could not even enter. I saw the place teeming with people. I knew there will be crowds, but I did not expect to see so many people.”
Birati resident
Sikha Basu
said she and her kin also could not make it to the temple.
Police said they have closed down the ghat along the Hooghly where devotees take a bath. Ferry services have also been stopped.
In 2019, six devotees waiting in rain to offer prayers at Lokenath temple in Kachua, about 55 kilometres from Kolkata, were killed and several were injured in a stampede triggered by a wall-collapse along the narrow stretch that leads to the temple.
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