14 people were killed when a stepwell cover collapsed at an Indore temple
Thirty-five people were killed when the roof of a stepwell collapsed at a temple in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Thursday. The stepwell roof at the Beleshwar Mahadev temple broke due to the sheer weight of the crowds on Ram Navami. A havan (ritual) was being performed when the incident happened.
Sources have said the tragedy could have been averted had the Indore Municipal Corporation acted on the complaints filed by residents.
The temple is managed by a private trust. It is located at Sneh Nagar, one of the oldest residential colonies in Indore.
On Ram Navami, the havan was being performed on a platform of the temple, which was actually a concrete slab covering a stepwell. It wasn't strong enough to hold the weight of 30-40 people.
Suddenly, the roof collapsed, plunging the devotees into the 40-feet-deep stepwell with water up to 9 feet.
NDTV has accessed a copy of the notice issued to the Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple trust in April 2022, saying the commissioner has received a complaint of encroachment on the park-cum-garden.
Residents also said the park was encroached first by building a water tank and then by building a temple on the stepwell. Another temple is being allegedly built close to this existing one by encroaching the same land, the complaint said.
The temple trust secretary replied the same month denying any encroachment on the park-garden. The trust called the municipal body's notice an interference in religious matters, which would hurt sentiments as the temple was 100 years old.
After the incident, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced Rs 5 lakh compensation each to the families of those who died in the incident. He has also ordered a magisterial probe.
Those injured will be given Rs 50,000 compensation and their treatment will be paid by the state government. Further, ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the PM National Relief Fund would be given to the families of the dead and Rs 50,000 each to the injured people.