The most galling thing about deadly stampedes is that they are avoidable. But disappointingly, India continues to witness one such tragedy after another. Only a fortnight after dozens were crushed at the Kumbh, 18 lives were lost at the New Delhi railway station last Saturday. These tragedies followed the death of six devotees at the Tirupati temple in early January, and 121 deaths last July at a Bhole Baba’s gathering in Hathras. The farther we go back, the longer the appalling list gets. In 2022, 12 pilgrims died near the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu. The 2013 Maha Kumbh saw at least 36 killed on a busy bathing day in February; the toll was more horrific that October, when 115 perished at Madhya Pradesh’s Ratangarh temple.
Notice a common thread? They happened at religious gatherings or in a rush towards one. It raises the question whether our administrators are less than assertive when it comes to religious crowds. The other gap is in instituting transparent inquiries, apportioning responsibility and communicating actions taken to prevent future occurrences. Crowd control may be an evolving science, but avoiding stampedes basically needs clear crowd estimates and effective management. Highlighting an instance of shoddy planning, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the railways why they had sold so many more tickets than could be accommodated on trains. Earlier, the Kumbh administration’s excuse that they had not anticipated such a huge crowd on the fateful day invited eye-rolls, given that thanks to technology, it’s possible to get a clear estimate in advance.
The other requirement is a correct count of the dead. We still do not know the final toll of the Prayagraj stampede. Such an obligation should be beyond managing optics, because those not included in the official count miss out on the compensation given by the government. Popular pilgrimages attract people from disparate parts of the country, most of whom do not have the wherewithal to stay back for months to demand legal redress or claim the ex gratia amounts announced. Action-taken reports must be submitted in the state assemblies or parliament within a few months of the tragedies. If we do not learn from this ghastly history, we will be condemned to repeat it.