It was a Tuesday afternoon when people gathered at an event ground in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras to attend a ‘satsang’ under the sweltering heat. Little did they know a deadly stampede would disrupt their lives. The death toll, since July 2, has risen to 121 while several attendees have been left seriously injured.
Self-styled godman Bhole Baba’s ‘satsang’ was an event for 80,000 people, the religious gathering however, in no time, swelled up with over 2.5 lakh devotees. This transpired into overcrowding, while the urge to follow the ritual of ’touching the preacher’s feet to collect his foot’s death’ led to the stampede.
Many devotees rushed towards Suraj Pal aka Bhole Baba, as he decided to leave the venue all of a sudden, to seek his blessings. Several people, mostly women and children, got crushed in the commotion.
With Bhole Baba absconding and event organisers refusing to reveal the exact details of the kind of permission they sought for the event, police are scrambling to put a pin on the key accused.
Meanwhile, several lapses were found in managing and organising the ‘satsang’. For example, the event had no clear demarcation of entry and exit points, no emergency exits and no barricading to separate the crowd from the stage.
While the Hathras stampede incident has brought back painful memories of the many deadly overcrowding incidents that India has seen in the past, many religious events have set good precedents too.
Case in point: Kumbh Mela and Amarnath Yatra.
The success story of Kumbh Mela
Held every 12 years, Kumbh Mela is the largest religious congregation that the country witnesses. Millions of people, from within the country and the world, attend the event.
Maha Kumbh is held in Prayagraj. Except for the two incidents of 1954 and 2013, the crowd management at Kumbh Mela has more or less been a smooth process.
From police deployment to crowd control, the event is well-managed. In 2019, a team of 10 information technology experts was employed to review the most densely populated areas at the mela.
The next Kumbh Mela will be held in 2025 and authorities have already started to take necessary steps to ensure there are no untoward incidents.
The government will make use of artificial intelligence-powered mechanisms and tools to manage crowds and has asked police to embrace the technology ahead of the religious event.
Meanwhile, in terms of police force, manpower will be increased by manifold. Senior mela authorities have said that 60,000 to 80,000 police officials will be deployed at Maha Kumbh to control the sea of devotees who will attend the event.
How Amarnath Yatra weathers the storm of overcrowding
Another mass religious gathering, Amarnath Yatra is held in Kashmir every year.
While cases of stampedes are rare, the Amarnath Yatra does see other forms of accidents including the ones where buses fall off gorges, causing injuries and deaths.
However, as this year’s yatra is ongoing, the event has not reported any accidents due to overcrowding.
The yatra is well-equipped with service providers, including ponywalas, paalki and dandiwalas and pithuwalas to ensure devotees reach the Amarnath caves located in the Himalayas safely.
Police officials also ensure that pilgrims are released in batches in different time frames to avoid overcrowding.
What do NDMA guidelines suggest?
In 2014, the National Disaster Management Authority came out with a comprehensive guideline to be followed in cases of overcrowding. Here’s what it suggests:
With inputs from NDMA
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