Goa’s stampede: Fact-seeking committee recommends disbanding the temple management committee

The Fact Investigation Committee (FFIC) constitutes an investigation into the tragic Goa stampede that occurred in the early morning of May 3, 2025, which cowboys historically recommended that the Goa government dissolve the Shree Lairai Lairai Temple Management Committee during the Lairai Jatra Festival held in Shirgao, North Goa.

The report, released on Tuesday (May 13, 2025), noted that the incident resulted in multiple deaths and injuries, which was completely preventable.

The failure of organizers is of concern, especially in terms of planning and security, and has not recognized certain unwelcome events in the past, especially as their intentional non-compliance with administrative security directives; therefore, the Committee strongly recommends that the Government should explore the committees of the temple committee and the possibility of appointing appropriate administrators.

The Commission’s investigation included on-site visits, consultations with stakeholders and review of administrative records. “The FFIC concluded that this tragedy was completely preventable and stemmed from a bad plan, lack of law enforcement, neglecting the combination of directives and insufficient infrastructure. The recommendations provided in this report are intended to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.”

Based on the on-site visit, interaction with witnesses, injured victims, organizers, executive sheriffs, police officers, and a perusal reading of available records, the committee found that the tramplers were caused by preventable errors and negligence among key stakeholders.

The report noted: “The Commission found that the direct cause of the stampede was overcrowded on the road from Talli to Homde, especially at the upper end of the sloping section near the RBL bank branch, Shirgao, Shirgao, Shirgao, Shirgao, was exacerbated by the unruly behavior of DHOND due to the lack of proper range of crowds at the location. The queue of the sloping sections formed to lead to Homkhand.”

This arrangement leads to the establishment of members of people on the sloping section, causing the area to be overcrowded. The overcrowded, coupled with the attempts of some group groups to promote the crowd and their unruly behavior, leads to instability in the devotees walking along the slope.

As a result, it was understood that a person fell on the tilted part, triggering a chain reaction, with several people behind and around her losing balance and falling down each other. The report wrote that due to the downward slope, limited visibility, crowd push and unruly behavior, people approaching from behind did not realize the fall and continued to move forward, resulting in the stampede.

During the investigation, some injured victims informed the committee that a small incident of similar nature allegedly occurred in the past, in which one of the devotees suffered serious injuries on the day of Homkhand.

“However, the Commission has not found any records to confirm the incident. Despite no official records, the Commission believes that key stakeholders, including organizers, district administration and district police, should have reviewed past events and taken adequate precautions to prevent such unwelcome events.”

Several witnesses and injured victims reported that some Dhonds had forcibly tried to move from Talley to Homkand. “Organizers are expected to conduct a thorough capacity plan based on the location of key sites and available access routes. Despite the presence of multiple alternative routes, the committee found that organizers found that organizers failed to develop a multi-routing circulation plan to avoid congestion along the main pathways between Tali and HomkHand, without systematic assessment. There seems to be no historical data, this is a year of development, this is a multi-popularity, this is a year of popularity, and the flow of crowds continues to grow. The report reads: “The nature of DHONDS and visitors, especially for high-density events such as the Homkhand rituals.” ”

The committee said organizers must conduct comprehensive risk analysis and preparation and/or work with the authorities and put it into planning and implementation. “However, a review of the minutes of the revenue and all pre-event meetings held by police officials showed that organizers did not provide critical information about the number of visitors, based on potential risks of past events or alternative circulation routes. Instead, the committee found that organizers found that organizers seemed to have overlooked specific instructions about religion and religious activities, and instead targeted religious activities, but focused on groups in New York.

The report further noted that although the police and tax offices were clearly informed of the risks involved, the organizers showed neither intention nor took any specific steps to prevent the spread of the stalls. “The committee found that organizers were fully aware of the limitation and its potential consequences, but deliberately failed to take precautions to mitigate the risk of adverse events.”

The committee noted that despite the installation of permanent CCTV cameras in the temple area, organizers did not extend surveillance to high-risk external areas. “In particular, there is no arrangement (leasing or otherwise) of temporary CCTV cameras in key locations such as Tali and the pathway to Homkhand (including tilting parts) that have been made, which is well known for overcrowding and the accidental movement of Dhonds.”

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“The police arrangement order issued by the North Goa District Police Department, dated April 29, 2025, refers to the installation of six watchmen. However, during the interaction with police inspectors, the committee was informed that the watchtower designated near the tilted department had been designated twice near the department and had added two reports to the department and assigned other assigned locations.

Although police deployed a drone for surveillance purposes, the committee found that the committee was not in use during the critical period mentioned above. The committee said the cause could not be determined at this time.

The state government has issued a display business notice to the North Goa Regional Government, the local police station and eight former officials of Shirgao Panchayat.