Family members of those killed in the stampede that took place in Puri, where hundreds of thousands of devotees have gathered for the annual Rath Yatra festival, have raised questions about the lack of security personnel and arrangements at the site of the incident.

Three people were killed and more than 50 were injured in the stampede early Sunday morning outside the Gundicha Temple.

Among the three dead was 42-year-old Basanti Sahoo, a native of Khurda, who had come to Puri with her husband and children to attend the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath.

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“There was no system in place at all, even when the crowd swelled near the chariot after darshan started at around 4 am. While devotees were going from one side, a large crowd approached from the other, leading to chaos and jostling. We couldn’t find any police personnel at the spot,” said Dillip Sahoo, Basanti’s husband.

Dillip, who lives in a slum in Bhubaneswar along with his daughter, son and other family members, performed Basanti’s last rites at Swargadwara in Puri.

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The two other deceased were identified as Pravati Das (52) of Balipatna in Khurda, and Bhubaneswar native Premakanta Mohanty (78).

“My wife and others would have been saved had there been any arrangement for smooth arrival of ambulances to the spot. There was no police deployment and no volunteers despite there being utter chaos. Who will compensate my loss?” asked Pravati’s husband Biswajit.

According to those who witnessed the chaos, it went on for around 20 minutes while two vehicles entered the densely crowded area. Locals and other devotees were the first responders, pulling injured people from the crowd and taking them to nearby hospitals.

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“Despite a large crowd forming overnight, darshan was closed early (at around midnight). Those who couldn’t take darshan at night continued to wait near the chariots till morning. The crowd swelled suddenly as soon as the ‘pahada bhanga’ ritual started. This triggered the stampede,” said an eyewitness.

Several others blamed a faulty barricading system for the chaos.

As part of the Rath Yatra, all three chariots of the deities reached Gundicha Temple on Saturday, where the deities will stay till the Bahuda Yatra scheduled for July 5.

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On Friday, more than 200 devotees had fallen ill during the Rath Yatra due to overcrowding and humidity.

The Odisha government has ordered an administrative probe into the matter to be conducted by a committee headed by Development Commissioner Anu Garg. Puri Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain and Superintendent of Police (SP) Vinit Agrawal have been replaced. Two senior police officers have also been suspended for “dereliction of duty”.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said the “negligence was unpardonable”. While expressing condolences, he also announced ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased. “Exemplary action will be taken against those responsible for the situation,” the Chief Minister said.

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A major administrative shake-up has also been initiated for the smooth conduct of the remaining rituals, including Bahuda Yatra and Suna Besha. The move is also seen as an attempt to restore the faith of the public in the system.

Senior IAS officer Aravind Agrawal, who earlier served as Puri Collector, has been assigned to be in charge of overall supervision of the festival, while Additional Director General S K Priyadarshi, an experienced hand in Rath Yatra crowd management, has been made in-charge of general police arrangement.

The BJP government in Odisha, which had said it would make this year’s yatra “incident-free and memorable”, has also been targeted by the Opposition.

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Odisha’s Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik hit out at the BJP-led government, saying, “Today’s stampede, occurring just a day after the abysmal failure of crowd management during the Rath Yatra that left hundreds injured, exposes the government’s glaring incompetence in ensuring a peaceful festival for devotees.”

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also expressed concern over the incident. “This tragedy is a serious warning — for such large events, security arrangements and crowd management preparations must be taken seriously and thoroughly reviewed. Protecting lives is paramount, and no lapses in this responsibility are acceptable,” he said in a post on X.

Devotees continued to throng Puri on Sunday to get a glimpse of the deities taken to Gundicha Temple from the chariots in a ceremonial procession.