Court asks Kerala government to explain Sabarimala stampede

The Kerala High Court today pulledup the state government for neglecting its warnings on safety of Sabarimala pilgrims and directed it to file a detailed report by Thursday on the stampede at Pullmedu that left 102 devotees dead. A division bench comprising justices Thottathil Radhakrishnan and P S Gopinathan, monitoring the affairsrelating to the Sabarimala pilgrimage, directed police andforest departments as also the Travancore Deveswom Board,which manages the temple, to furnish reports on the causesthat led the tragedy. The judges recalled that they had given a warning tothe authorities on January five about the need to regulate theflow of pilgrims to avoid disasters like stampede. The court also observed that there had been lack ofco-ordination among various departments involved in conduct ofthe festival at Sabarimala, which attracts millions ofpilgrims during the two-month long season from mid-Novermber. "We want to know what had happened. Explain how themishap occurred," the judges said while giving the direction. The court also sought to know from government detailsof the help provided to the injured and those stranded in thePullumedu route in the forest area after the accident. The stampede, one of the worst pilgrimage tragedies ofrecent times, happened when Ayappa devotees were heading homeon Friday last after witnessing ''makar jyoti'', considered anannual celestial phenomenon, with most victims hailing fromTamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Kerala government has announced a judicial inquiryinto the tragedy. Lack of basic amenities like lighting, water supplyand camping facilities, coupled with insufficient policedeployment were blamed for the incident. Though Pullmedu route has been used by pilgrims fromTamil Nadu for long, the area had never been sufficientlycovered by security and crowd management plans of Sabarimalapilgrimage.

The state government has to file a report by Thursday on the stampede that killed 102 devotees at Pulmedu, about 35 km from the Sabarimala Temple, on Friday night. The Police, Forest Department and the Travancore Devaswom board have been asked by the Kerala High Court to file reports regarding the reasons for the tragedy in Kerala's Idukki district. "We want to know what happened. Explain how the mishap occurred," said the two judges hearing the case. The government also has to explain what help was provided to those who were injured and stranded in the area after the tragedy.

Read More

Schools start biometric scan at gates for parents

On Thursday afternoon, Dr Suvidya Ingale and his wife took an hour-long break from their clinic for a visit to their daughter’s school. Not for a PTA meeting or for a school function but to give their thumb-impression for the biometric machine and get their photos clicked. The drive, started for security reasons, is being carried out for parents at all three branches of The Bishop’s School. Later, in February, the school plans to introduce the same rule for guardians and school-bus drivers too. The Bishop’s School which has got around 10,000 students in its three branches, will soon have a bio-metric system installed at the main gates. Similar projects will be implemented by the second week of March at RIMS International School. The project, called RIMS-Connect, has been operational at its Mumbai branch since October 2010. The data collection activity for the Pune branch, that has around 300 students, is already complete. Other security measures taken by the school include 30 CCTV cameras, installed after the German Bakery blast. "The step was taken on the recommendation of police officials," said Museeb Rais, director, RIMS. At Symbiosis International School, though the rule of parents and drivers having to have I-cards has been there for a while, observance of the rule became strict after 26/11 and stricter after the German Bakery blast.More and more city schools are getting extra vigilant and taking various security measures at their own level. For instance, the Shamrao Kalmadi High School will install of CCTV cameras on the school premises. “In our old infrastructure, we had multiple entries to the school and monitoring them was very difficult. But now we have just one entry to the school and even there, one needs to fill details in the register before entering the school. The current system has been effective and would be a great combination alongwith CCTV cameras,” said Kamini Saxena, principal of the school.

Read More