Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has served notice on the Puri District Collector and Superintendent of Police (SP) in connection with the stampede near Srigundicha temple at the Holy Town yesterday. 

The rights body served notice on the two senior officials of the Puri district administration while taking up a petition pertaining to the tragic incident today.

The OHRC has asked the authorities concerned to provide proper healthcare to the injured persons. It also directed the administration to take appropriate steps to prevent occurrence of similar incidents in future.

Three devotees were killed and several others were injured in a tragic stampede at Saradhabali near the Srigundicha temple at Puri in the early hours of Sunday.

The incident took place when thousands of devotees congregated at Saradhabali to have a glimpse of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra on their respective chariots near Srigundicha temple on the third day of the ongoing Ratha Jatra festival.

Many devotees have blamed poor crowd management at Saradhabali for the stampede.

Taking the issue seriously, the state government has suspneded two police officials for derelictions of duty and transferred Puri Collector and SP with immediate effect.

The Chief Minister has announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh each to the bereaved families. Besides, the state government has asked Development Commissioner to probe the incident and submit a report within 30 days.  

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