The Hindu : Report on Sabarimala tragedy blames Government

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 17, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Report on Sabarimala tragedy blames Government

By Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

PATHANAMTHITTA, FEB. 16. The Justice T. Chandrashekhara Menon Commission that inquired into the Pampa Hill Top tragedy of January 14, 1999 at Sabarimala, which claimed 52 lives, has found the State Government guilty of "negligence in ensuring the safety of the pilgrims coming from different parts of the country".

However, the Government has allegedly been cold-shouldering the Commission's final report, submitted to it on June 7, 2000, thereby trying to keep the truth away from the people all these years for reasons best known to the authorities concerned. The Judicial Commission has also found it "necessary to have a Statutory Committee consisting of persons of Hindu faith to administer the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple".

The stampede tragedy happened immediately after the sighting of the Makarajyothi, a bright light that the devotees consider divine, at Ponnambalamedu on the eastern part of the Ayyappa Sannidhanam around 6.40 on January 14, 1999, leaving 52 pilgrims dead and many others injured.

According to the final report of the Commission, appointed by the State Government, "the cause of the tragedy was the heavy over-crowding at the Hill Top and the crowd rushing down through the slanting area from the Hill Top to the ground below. Some people stumbled and others fell over them".

The Hill Top, in possession of the Travancore Dewasom Board (TDB) was under the permissive possession of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) for erecting a sub-station there.

"The specific cause which led to the incident was the rushing down of the pilgrims after seeing the Makarajyothi from the hill top to the plane below through the slanting slope. They were rushing down to the ground to get into their vehicles at the earliest. The Commission is of the opinion that this tragedy would not have caused but for the lapses on the part of the state, TDB and the KSEB in their duty to take care. Heavy crowds in the circumstances should have been anticipated by these authorities. It was a foreseeable matter. There was lapse to take reasonable care in the matter."

Moreover, there were various reports on Sabarimala before the Government like the one submitted by the Legislative Committee on Environment, which had discussed in detail the measures to be adopted to avoid accidents in Pampa and Sabarimala.

The Commission felt that these reports have to be taken duly note of by the State Government and other authorities and the measures indicated therein should be adopted to the extent possible in consultation with the environmental as well as the wild life conservation authorities. "The Commission has no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the State Government, the TDB and the KSEB have failed to take proper and necessary steps in preventing such an incident. To that extent, they are guilty of negligence," says the final report.

The Commission has maintained that "it is the duty of the Government to see that the pilgrims coming to Sabarimala from different parts of the country do not get injured in their trip, that well laid roads are there, proper and strong barricades are put up in the elevated portion, and no over-crowding, which might lead to stampede and other tragedies, takes place. If any such things happened on account of the breach of duty of the Government, the state cannot wash off its hands by stating that it was inevitable in the nature of the huge assemblage of pilgrims. It is the state's duty to prevent over-crowding by taking appropriate steps, restricting the number of pilgrims, if necessary and guarding dangerous points on the mountains," says the report.

The Commission observed, "In the nature of Article 21 of the Constitution, strict liability is on the state to see that the right to life of a citizen is properly safeguarded". The liability of the state in the matter is even created in Public Law by our Constitution and this liability is not hedged by any limitations, it adds."

If the TDB had been careless, then the state has a duty to see that the Board acts properly. The TDB's acts could be controlled by the Sovereign power as the latter has always got the supervisory authority in the matter.''

The Commission has squarely blamed the State Government and the TDB of dereliction of duty, leading to the loss of lives in the stampede tragedy. It has also maintained that the State, the TDB and the KSEB are "liable jointly and severally for the damages caused to the persons involved in the accident".

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