Another stampede

A large gathering of pilgrims,a push from behind,a gate crash: many deaths,many more injured. That this logical sequence leads to an inevitable stampede doesnt evoke wonder. What shocks and provokes anger is the frequency of this sequence completing itself,when nobody organisers,police,local administration can claim to be blind to context and conditions. On Tuesday,16 persons were killed and 50 injured in a stampede in Haridwar,while attending a religious ceremony where an estimated two lakh people had gathered.

The five-day mahayagya may have been curtailed and a magisterial inquiry ordered,yet connecting the dots of the stampede sequence is a missing link absent crowd managers. The police claim that the organisers of the ceremony,reportedly the largest religious gathering after the Kumbh Mela,didnt involve them. If true,thats inexcusable negligence. But do the police need permission from event organisers to inspect a public gathering of two lakh people? As the Sabarimala stampede exposed last January,India has done little except,say,the odd chief ministers meet where the issue comes up as a consequence of discussing something bigger to think through and devise concrete solutions for handling large crowds. Ideas have floated around,but hardly ever implemented. The twin needs of adequate infrastructure to accommodate pilgrims and the deployment of crowd managers ought to be administrative second nature. All too often they are not.

Therefore,behind every such tragedy,lies a bigger project police reforms. Police personnel must be trained and sensitised to not only manage large crowds but also distinguish among different types of crowds. A pilgrimage and a protest are not the same; yet both are always on the verge of crossing over the edge. Pilgrimage and protest,as the largest crowd pullers,need more thought and action.