BENGALURU: A full city victory parade covering major stretches of Bengaluru - from Vidhana Soudha to MG Road and beyond - was originally suggested by the city police to mark RCB’s IPL win.
The idea was to keep the team moving through different areas so fans could celebrate from the roadsides instead of overcrowding and flooding one location but this suggestion was flatly rejected by the organisers and the state government, despite warnings of the chaos it could lead to.
Via multiple informed sources, TNIE learnt that the police had reportedly said no to holding a grand event at such a short notice as the police force had spent the night on the ground till 4 am controlling heavy celebrations in the central business district on Tuesday, June 3, after the RCB win and were stretched thin.
The police had also assessed the public mood after the trophy win and communicated to the organisers that massive turnout is certain and that crowd control would require careful preparation.
The organisers also failed to provide details of how exactly they are planning the event, expected crowd size and how exactly passes would be distributed, a police official said, adding that most of the details were verbally communicated as it was done in a hurried manner.
The police also mentioned that they didn’t have the time to arrange even the barricades which they usually source from private event managers.
Government directed cops to focus on VIP security
Moreover, there was no clarity about permissions taken or not from the BBMP.
While the police had not given a green signal for the full celebrations, the decision to go ahead, sources said, was forced by the organisers through the political channels.
As part of the celebrations, three bandobast channels - Vidhana Soudha, HAL airport to Taj West End route and M Chinnaswamy Stadium, were created. However, the government directed the police to focus mainly on VIP security at Vidhana Soudha and along the HAL-Taj West End route, where the Deputy Chief Minister and players were arriving. At the same time, by 11 am, fans started pouring into the stadium - where the police force was minimal.
Even before the police were clearly communicated about the celebrations, fans started swelling the venue after seeing free passes post on RCB’s social media and the personnel who were to be part of the security at the stadium were themselves stuck amid the crowd. Sources revealed that even around the stadium, the entire crowd control was left to a group of bouncers. Defending their crowd managing capabilities, the officials pointed out that the same police force had successfully handled massive gatherings.