Jammu, Jan 01 (KNS): The survivors of stampede at Vaishno Devi temple have accused the shrine board of mismanagement, which led killing of 12 pilgrims and injuries to 15 others. 

One of the pilgrim said that it was a mismanagement as the board already knew that there will be huge crowd of devotees, but they did not stop the pilgrims from entering the temple. “If they had been cautious then this incident would not have happened,” he added.

The pilgrims accused that a similar situation happened earlier as well, but nobody was injured and the situation was controlled at that time.

Another pilgrim said that there was a complete mess as no COVID SOPs were followed and heavy rush led to the situation going out of control. 

Meanwhile, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine board has denied all the accusations and said that all necessary precautions were taken in view of huge rush of devotees.

An official of Shrine board said that adequate arrngemnets were made in view of the expected rush of pilgrims. 

Meanwhile, DGP said that according to preliminary information a scuffle between two groups of boys resulted into the stampede, in which 12 persons were killed and 15 others injured. 

Senior BJP leader Devender Rana said that this is not the time for allegations or counter allegations and it is a tragedy that has happened, so nobody should play politics over it. (KNS)