New Delhi Railway Station Stampede Live Updates: Sale of platform tickets stopped between 4 pm to 11 pm for one week at NDLS

Watch our ground report as porters at New Delhi railway station recall the stampede that occurred late Saturday:

Two days after 18 people were killed in a stampede at the New Delhi railway station (NDLS), the Northern Railway announced on Monday that platform tickets will not be sold between 4 pm and 11 pm for the next one week at the station to ensure proper crowd management.

A day earlier, security was ramped up at NDLS, including the deployment of additional teams from the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) to manage the peak rush at the station.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to stay calm, follow safety precautions and be alert for “possible aftershocks" after a 4.0-magnitude earthquake struck the national capital on Monday.

On his X, he wrote: “Authorities are keeping a close watch on the situation.”

According to the National Centre of Seismology, the epicentre was in the Jheel Park area of Dhaula Kuan. It originated just 5 km below the earth’s surface. Shallow earthquakes, originating five or ten km below the surface, tend to cause more damage than those originating deep below the surface.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale expressed condolences over the deaths, and said that there was a “brazen attempt at cover-up until the bodies started showing up”.

“For hours after the stampede, Railways kept denying it and said it “was a rumour”. This was a brazen attempt at cover-up until the bodies started showing up,” he said.

“Modi’s part-time Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, yet again, has blood on his hands,” he added. “There have been an increasing number of deaths on Indian Railways and the situation continues to worsen every day. And yet, the Minister prefers to share video reels than address the problems of safety and overcrowding,” said the MP in a post on X.

Demanding Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s resignation, Gokhale said, “If PM Modi has even an iota of shame or concern for people’s lives, he must sack Ashwini Vaishnaw immediately”. “The sacred Kumbh Mela has been turned into a PR activity by the Modi and Yogi government,” said Gokhale.

Samajwadi Party national spokesperson Ashok Yadav told The Indian Express that while the Central and UP governments have made big promises about arrangements for the Maha Kumbh Mela, they have “completely failed”.

“Big promises were made regarding arrangements. Where are the arrangements? This was the second time innocent people have died because of the government’s mismanagement. It is unfortunate that so many people have died,” he said.

“The crowd management system has completely collapsed and there is no answerability. Why haven’t we seen FIRs over the stampede in Prayagraj last month? Why haven’t we seen anyone give answers?” he asked.

The Opposition parties Sunday targeted the government, alleging a cover-up, with the Congress saying that the government was “concerned about stopping the news of the deaths” and not “about stopping the deaths”.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said “the attempt by the Narendra Modi government to hide the truth in the case of deaths at New Delhi Railway Station is extremely shameful and condemnable”.

Congress media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera said “the government is always worried about how to stop the news of these deaths” calling it “operation whitewash”. Khera also asked why a toll-free phone number was not issued so that people can get information about their missing relatives.

The Congress Sunday demanded that Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw must resign, taking moral responsibility for the stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station in which 18 people died, news agency PTI highlighted.

Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said if Vaishnaw does not resign, he should be sacked for the "mismanagement" at the railway station. She said railway officials were well aware of how many people were entering the station and as many as 1500 tickets were being sold every hour, PTI report quoted.

Proper arrangements for crowd management should have been made. Unfortunately, no security forces were seen and the crowds had to manage themselves, which led to such a tragedy, she told the reporters.

"We have only one and only demand from this platform. Keeping in view yesterday's incident which was a massacre, the Railway minister has no right to be in his position even for a minute." "The Railway minister must resign with immediate effect, taking moral responsibility for the incident. Else, he should be sacked in case he does not tender his resignation for the tragedy," she told the reporters.

"Ashwini Vaishnaw does not have the moral responsibility to be in his chair for even a minute. He is hanging on to his chair shamelessly," she claimed.

"The Indian Railways and Indians cannot be left in the hands of such a minister. The Railway minister cannot be a person who is busy building his image and terming the death of people as small incidents and one who instead of offering condolences to the people, tries to hide the deaths of people," the Congress leader said.

"What happened at New Delhi Railway Station last night is not an accident but a 'massacre'. Seeing the scene there, my heart was shaken," she said, adding many devotees full of faith and belief came to visit Kumbh, but no arrangements were made.

There was no arrangement for police administration or ambulances and there was a pile of corpses in the hospital, she said, asking "Who is responsible for this massacre of devotees." (PTI)

Shoes, torn bags, scattered clothes, and abandoned food -- belongings of those who were killed and injured in the tragic stampede at New Delhi railway station are grim reminder of the event of the fateful night.

On Sunday morning, workers were seen sweeping away the debris, collecting personal belongings, to restore normalcy at the busy station, but the tragedy has left scars that could not be so easily erased.

Watch here:

Narsingh Deo, Principal Chief Commercial Manager (PCCM), Northern Railway, who is one of the members of the investigation committee, Sunday told The Indian Express that they have been able to secure all the CCTV footage of the station, and called all the eye-witnesses of the incident. Deo was accompanied by other member of the committee, Pankaj Gangwar.

"All the CCTV footage of the New Delhi Railway station has been secured. We are looking into all the possible angles. We have started the investigation today and it will be over soon. Only after the investigation, we would be able to comment on anything. We have called all the witnesses of the incident. Action will be taken accordingly," Deo said.

Deo refused to comment if there was any change in the platform at the last moment. He also did not comment if an FIR will be registered in this case.

(Express Photo)

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders on Sunday said the stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station was a glaring example of "gross mismanagement" and lack of crowd control measures.

AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha said the stampede shook all, and called it a a glaring example of "gross mismanagement" and lack of crowd control measures. "On February 11, I had raised this issue in Parliament, warning about the urgent need for better management protocols at railway stations, but the government ignored it," he said on X.

He demanded that those responsible for the stampede must be held accountable, and emphasised immediate reforms to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Hitting back at the BJP, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia wrote on X: "Aapda Sarkar..." The word 'AAPda' (disaster) was used by BJP leaders ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls to describe the AAP's alleged corruption and failures. (PTI)

A two-member high-level committee has been formed to investigate the matter and determine the cause of the stampede at New Delhi railway station on Saturday, which claimed around 18 lives.

Narsingh Deo, Principal Chief Commercial Manager, Northern Railway and Pankaj Gangwar, Principal Chief Security Commissioner, Northern Railway are the members of the committee, the Railways said.

According to news agency PTI, the committee, which has commenced it inquiry, gave orders to secure all video/CCTV footage of the New Delhi Railway Station.