Devotees flout COVID norms, throng Ujjain`s Mahakaleshwar Temple

On July 26, the first Monday in the holy month of Shravan, the rush among devotees to enter for prayers led to a stampede-like situation with one of the barricade gates getting damagea. Media reports claim several were injured.

Ujjain: A stampede-like situation arose at the renowned Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on Monday (July 26), the videos of which has now surfaced. Throwing caution to the wind, devotees crowded at the temple on the first Monday in the holy month of Shravan. Despite coronavirus-related restrictions, the rush among devotees to enter for prayers led to one of the barricade gates getting damaged, an official said.

A video of the incident went viral on social media.

The famous Mahakaleshwar temple reopened for devotees in June 28 after a gap of around 80 days, after shutting down in April due to spread of COVID.

At around 8:30am, a large number of people tried to enter for darshan and in the process broke the barricade at gate number four of the temple complex. After the barricade broke, several people tried to run towards the main deity," the temple's assistant administrator Moolchand Joonwal told PTI. While Joonwal said "there was no untoward incident", some media reports claimed that several people, including women and children were hurt.

"Due to it being the first Monday of the holy month of Shravan, people were allowed to stand in queues for darshan apart from pre-booking. However, the crowd that turned up was much larger than what we expected," Joonwal said. Eye witnesses said social distancing and other COVID-19 norms were violated as people queued up outside the temple. 

(With Agency inputs)