Hyderabad, July 14: Twenty-eight devotees, most of them elderly and women, died today in a stampede apparently triggered by a rush to take a holy dip in the Godavari within a 40-minute window considered most auspicious.

The tragedy unfolded in Rajahmundry town, around 450km from Hyderabad, at the start of the Godavari Pushkaram festival and in the presence of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu who had taken the dip a few hundred metres away at another ghat.

Unconfirmed reports put the toll at 35. Around 51 people, including five children, were injured, officials said, adding the condition of five was critical.

"Devotees rushed to be the first to take the dip in the most auspicious time as they believed doing so would wash away their sins and bring good omen for them and their families," said Purnachandra Naveen, 45, a Rajahmundry resident. The festival is held once in 12 years.

According to eyewitnesses and police, a crowd of around a lakh had gathered at the ghat from the wee hours, five times the number of 20,000 the authorities had expected.

The stampede occurred around 6.25am when the people, desperate to wrap up the ritual in the 6.20-7am slot deemed most auspicious, rushed to the ghat, hitting those who had finished their bath and were on their way back and falling over each other in the melee.

"The incident happened as the first set of worshippers was coming out of the river after their dip but got in the way of the others who wanted to be in the water at that very auspicious time," said senior police officer A. Srinivasan Rao.

But fingers were also pointed at the authorities for allowing entry to the Pushkar Ghat only around 6am - despite people having started gathering along the banks from as early as 2am - allowing the crowd to swell and rush headlong to the ghats in a floodgate-like surge.

Also, some eyewitnesses alleged that of the three gates to the ghat, only one was kept open at the time.

Naidu whose administration had promised elaborate arrangements for the 12-day festival, termed the deaths "shocking". "I have come here many times to review arrangements and ensure smooth conduct of the event. But some problems cropped up in execution," said Naidu, who was accompanied to Rajahmundry by his family and several of ministers.

The chief minister has decided to camp in the town for the next 11 days of the festival, cancelling a scheduled visit to Delhi today. He announced a judicial probe into the incident and a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of those who died.

But Naidu's rivals slammed him. "Instead of performing his rituals and taking the dip at the VIP ghat, Chandrababu had gone to the Pushkar Ghat, causing inconvenience to common devotees for two-and-a-half hours and the subsequent stampede," said Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, the YSR Congress president and leader of the Opposition. Officials denied Jagan's claim that Naidu gone to Pushkar Ghat.

Swami Swaroopananda, a seer who had arrived from Visakhapantam, dismissed notions of the "most auspicious" time for the dip and said the deaths could have been avoided. "There is no such thing and one can take a dip throughout the 12 days of the Pushkaram."Although Godavari Pushkaram - also called the "Kumbh of the south" - is held once in 12 years, this year's event is considered more auspicious. It is being called "Maha Pushkaralu (Grand Pushkaralu) which, based on the almanac, comes once in 144 years. Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi was among several spiritual leaders who took the bath this morning.

The authorities said they expected over two crore people in Rajahmundry - three times the population of the town - over the entire festival, and around five to 10 lakh each day.# This is the first Pushkaram since the bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra. The last was held in 2003, during Naidu's previous stint as chief minister. On that occasion, he had avoided taking a dip, only sprinkling the Godavari water. He was voted out the next year.

This time, the festival is also being held in neighbouring Telangana, with chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao taking a dip in the river at Dharmapuri in Karimnagar district, 230km from Hyderabad.

His government, seen as vying with Andhra in making arrangements and showcasing the event as an achievement, has set aside Rs 452 crore - a third of the Naidu-led administration's outlay. The money is spent on new ghats, transport, free food and security measures.