The Goa government has issued show cause notices to eight senior officials, including then North Goa Collector Sneha Gite and SP (North) Akshat Kaushal, following the fact-finding committee’s report on the Lairai Devi Zatra stampede that left six dead and dozens injured on May 3.
The committee, headed by Commissioner and Revenue Secretary Sandeep Jacques, found the tragedy to be “entirely preventable,” citing a combination of poor planning, lack of enforcement, ignored directives, and inadequate infrastructure by the district administration, police, temple committee, and local panchayat.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who made the report public, stated that crowd mismanagement was the direct cause of the stampede. A narrow, stall-lined pathway and the absence of basic crowd control infrastructure contributed significantly to the disaster.
The report also criticised the temple committee for failing to cooperate with authorities and highlighted key lapses, including lack of strategic police deployment, absence of watchtowers, and the unregulated issuance of NOCs for stalls by the panchayat.
Calling the incident an “eye-opener,” Sawant announced that all large festivals in Goa will now require mandatory crowd management plans and a Standard Operating Procedure under the Disaster Management Act. Nodal officers will be appointed to ensure public safety at such events in the future.