Tivim: For 22 years, Urvesh Kauthankar has been a dhond — a devotee who fasts to take part in goddess Lairai’s jatra. But what he saw at Shirgao in May 2025 still haunts him, as he replays the administration’s arrangements over and over in his mind.He lost an aunt and a second cousin in last year’s stampede. His teenage cousin was seriously injured.Urvesh says the warning signs were obvious.“There were barely any police personnel at the site that night, even though it is known that thousands of dhonds would be walking towards the homkhund at that time. Police personnel were placed so far apart that when they saw the stampede begin, they knew they could not prevent it, and we saw them stepping aside,” he says.Urvesh is one of 115 dhonds from Saurakwaddo, Tivim — among the highest numbers from a single ward — now fasting at a local temple ahead of this year’s jatra at Shirgao.He will return this year, but says that last year’s trauma has left him unconvinced about the state’s preparations.“Last year, the police said they had drones monitoring the venue. This year, they are saying there is a network of CCTVs. However, these cannot be used to intervene in an untoward situation. These systems can only help find the cause once the damage is done,” he says.He remembers victims and survivors being taken to the hospital in police vans because ambulances could not reach the venue.Urvesh also points to overcrowding along the route to the homkhund.“There was possibly competition in the temple committee over how much revenue could be earned from the jatra, and stalls were allowed indiscriminately along the path where dhonds walk towards the homkhund, even though the path is already narrow and steep. During the stampede, I saw a friend fall on choppers laid out at a stall selling sharp objects in such a congested space,” he says.Urvesh had narrowly escaped because he was among the first to reach the homkhund.“After a postmortem examination of my second cousin, Aditya, the doctor told us that his entire ribcage was fractured. You cannot blame the administration of the temple and the police alone. There is a lack of discipline among the devotees, too. I cannot say my faith wasn’t shaken by what I saw,” he says.He adds that he does not blame the victims’ families for choosing to stay away from the Jatra this year.
