According to the locals, the administration did not take kindly to shopkeepers joining the locals and decided to choke them of the flow of pilgrims on their way out.
"The best exit route is the one on which all our shops are located. They are trying to channel the pilgrims away from us. We are even ready to shut our shop during Navratra. Our goods are not perishables, we can sell them all round the year. But please let them not punish the pilgrims for that. If pilgrims continue to take that route, there is every likelihood that another deadly stampede might happen," Chand said.
A government official, who works in a region that encompasses most of these pilgrim sites, summed it all up, "This incident happened. So the media spotlight is on it. Who will write about the other places that are as bad as this one, if not worse? These temples are such big money spinners and the state has taken over their control. But nobody knows where the money goes. It is a miracle that such stampedes do not happen more often."
Image: Tharam Pal Rana (Left) and Ramesh Chand claim that just the two of them removed more than 50 bodies from the site of the stampede.
They also alleged that the toll would be much more than the official 145 put out by the government.
Also read: When the clock stopped ticking in Hiroshima
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