"Came For Faith, Leaving With Fear": 6 Die At Kubereshwar Dham Kanwar Yatra In Madhya Pradesh

What began as a spiritual pilgrimage for thousands of devotees has now turned into a tragic headline. In the last 72 hours, six people have lost their lives at Kubereshwar Dham in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh, all amid a storm of administrative failure, mismanagement, and the collapse of basic infrastructure.

Upendra  (22) from Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur and Dilip Singh (57) from Chhattisgarh in Raipur are the latest to join the list of people who died during the pilgrimage. 

On Wednesday, two more devotees, Chatur Singh (50) from Panchwal, Gujarat, and Ishwar Singh (65) from Rohtak, Haryana, died during the Kanwar Yatra, joining Jaswanti Ben (56) from Rajkot and Sangeeta Gupta (48) from Firozabad, who died a day earlier on August 5. All six victims had journeyed to Kubereshwar with unwavering devotion, only to lose their lives in the chaos that awaited them. Their bodies now lie in the district hospital mortuary.

The victims were among lakhs of devotees who arrived for the grand Kanwar Yatra organised by famed storyteller Pandit Pradeep Mishra. But the faith-driven fervor quickly turned into a logistical nightmare. Massive crowds, poor crowd management, and zero anticipation by the authorities led to stampedes, suffocating traffic jams, and complete breakdowns in basic amenities like drinking water, food, and sanitation.

The Indore-Bhopal Highway, a major route for pilgrims, has been choked since Tuesday night. Vehicles have been stranded for hours. While the police had officially announced restrictions on heavy vehicles and alternative routes, these plans were either poorly executed or simply ignored. Thousands of pilgrims were left to navigate the heat, hunger, and exhaustion - a disaster waiting to happen.

Even more disturbing is the sheer lack of preparedness by the Kubereshwar Dham Management Committee and the district administration. It appears that no realistic estimate was made about the crowd size. No adequate planning was in place. Devotees from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and across Madhya Pradesh kept pouring in. The result: no toilets, no clean drinking water, no proper security, and no crowd control.

Speaking to NDTV, Cabinet Minister Govind Rajput admitted, "The crowd has grown much larger than expected. The system is falling short. I urge the administration to take control and ensure that such a tragedy doesn't repeat."
But the minister's words feel hollow against the grim reality of bodies piling up and families shattered.

Former Minister Dr Rajendra Singh of the Congress called it as it is: "Faith does not justify failure. Pandit Pradeep Mishra may choose to distribute Rudraksha or not; that's his choice. But who takes responsibility for the deaths? Rakhi is approaching how many families will tie it with one less brother this year?"

Leader of the Opposition Umang Singhar added, "No one has the right to play with human lives in the name of religion. Everyone has a family. This should be a wake-up call for the government and organisers to act now."

Despite repeated promises, the Samiti, which works with Pandit Mishra, has failed to deliver. It had assured arrangements for food, water, shelter, and order. What devotees found instead was filth, disorder, stampedes and death.

"There was no water, no toilets, and they made us pay for food!" said one angry devotee, returning from the site. "The committee did nothing. Women were pushed, the elderly were falling down, and the police just watched. We came for faith. We are leaving with fear."