Three days after stampede, Shirgao jatra ends with fewer people in attendance

Panaji: The five-day Shree Devi Lairai Jatra concluded on Tuesday amid heavy police cover to thwart any untoward incidents after six people lost their lives and several were injured in a stampede on Saturday.Very few people visited Shirgao on the last day of the jatra as the temple committee appealed to members of the general public not to travel to Shirgao in view of the stampede. Goa police deployed close to 300 personnel in the area, and all stalls along the roadside were removed to avoid congestion while the goddess returned to the temple.A day after the fact-finding committee failed to submit a report on the notified date in connection with the stampede at Shree Devi Lairai Jatra, chief minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said submission of the report would take some more days. The fact-finding committee, headed by revenue secretary Sandeep Jacques, has as its members DIG Varsha Sharma, transport director Pravimal Abhishek, and South Goa SP Tikam Singh Verma. Bicholim police station has already registered a first information report in the case and is still conducting an inquiry into the incident and recording the statements of witnesses. Some injured persons continue to receive treatment in hospital.From the second day, the goddess visited each and every house in the village until she returned to the temple on the fifth day of the jatra. Devotees usually turn up in large numbers for the ‘kaulotsav’ to seek the blessings of the goddess.Of the six people that were killed in the stampede, two women and a 16-year-old boy were identified as ‘dhonds,’ special devotees of the goddess. The stampede, perhaps the first in post-Liberation Goa’s history, occurred on the second day of the five-day jatra that began on Friday. At least 70,000 ‘dhonds’ attend the jatra and have to walk over the ‘homkund’ within three hours before goddess Lairai walks over it.