Haridwar: New ground zero of crowd mismanagement
SANJAY SAHAY It would not be out of place if India were christened the Mecca of crowd mismanagement, given the instances…
SANJAY SAHAY
It would not be out of place if India were christened the Mecca of crowd mismanagement, given the instances we have witnessed in the last 18 months or so. It is not to say that it was not happening earlier. It leads to what I term as man-made killings, tragedies which were bound to happen, and it did.
There would be a much larger number of instances where such tragedies wouldn’t have occurred in similar circumstances, but that does not explain anything. Mismanagement cannot be a model, and claiming success in things that are messed up, but passing off without a tragedy, cannot be treated as a feather in one’s cap.
It can only be termed as a divine act. In a hugely religious country, such a kind of God is not uncommon. The Bangalore Chinnaswamy stadium stampede is still fresh in our minds; the disturbing visuals had sent the country into a frenzy, the media glare and the criticism all over.
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One felt for once Indian police and their super governance; the governments of the day would have learnt a lesson, but that was not to happen. Bismarck is widely credited with the saying: “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” Have our governments and police crossed even that adage?
The sad news of the Haridwar stampede today strengthens this feeling and I may dare say, a reality. In the morning of 27th July 2025 pedestrian route of Mansa Devi Temple in Haridwar witnessed a deadly stampede incident during the early morning of the Shravan season, when pilgrim attendance surges.
The incident led to the death of 6-8 devotees, and more than 34 devotees were injured, including women and children. The narrow, steep stairway with a wall created a bottleneck in the rush. Panic followed a rumour of a snapped high-voltage electric wire falling onto the pathway. This has happened back-to-back after the Bangalore stampede on 4th June 2025.
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What we can call the man-made crowd crushes are far too many to absolve the Police or any of the other stakeholders. From July 2024 to now, the famous ones have been; Hathras Satsang (121+ deaths), Chennai Air Show Stampede (4-5 dead), Bandra Terminus Stampede (9 injured), Kasaragod Temple Fireworks Tragedy (6 dead), Pushpa 2 Film Premiere (1 dead), Tirumala Temple Token Distribution (6 dead), Maha Kumbh Mela (30+), New Delhi Railway Station Stampede (18 dead) Lairai Devi Jatra Stampede, Goa (6 dead) and Bangalore Crowd Crush.
Despite repeated tragedies, mass gatherings continue with limited visible reform. Infrastructure and planning issues persist, and NDMA guidelines are often ignored. Accountability is rare, and long-term prevention remains elusive. Is successful crowd management elusive in this country? Where do we go from here?
NO LARGE CROWD GATHERINGS SHOULD BE PERMITTED IF POLICE AND GOVERNMENT CANNOT HANDLE THE CROWDS.
(The writer is a former Karnataka cadre IPS officer, Founder & Director, TechConPro, Cyber Security Expert, Professional Public Speaker & Writer. Hailing from Palamu, Jharkhand, he lives in Bangalore.)
