India, a country with roughly 1.4 billion people, recently saw the world’s largest religious gathering in Prayag Raj for the Mahakumbh. Everything was going fine until a stampede happened in one camp area, resulting in multiple casualties. The chain of incidents didn’t stop here; yesterday, the Delhi railway station also saw an incident of a stampede that took the lives of almost 18 people.
The convergence of a massive crowd and the failure of the government to do crowd management lead these incidents to happen frequently. Every time in India when such mass gatherings happen, stampedes are most likely to take place, but the government and police have done nothing about it so far. No lesson learnt, no precautions taken.
Crowd management failure
New Delhi’s main railway station is one of the busiest railway stations in India. During the Mahakumbh season, every station in India experiences a surge of devotees. The Delhi government was expected to manage the highest influx of people. However, crowd management failure at Delhi railway station led to a stampede last night, resulting in multiple casualties.
Just a week prior. On January 9, 2025. Another tragedy took place in Mahakumbh, where stampedes took the life of multiple people. This mahakumbh estimate of 100 million people has come to Prayagraj to witness the world’s largest religious gathering and to take a holy dip in the Sangam.
The incidents of stampedes in India are not new. It happens almost every year, but all the government has to offer is compensation to victims and one tweet to show their grief. In July 2024 also, a religious gathering in Hathras district saw the tragic incident of stampedes. The event was overwhelmed by an unexpected number of crowds, leading to this tragedy.
Before that, in October 2013, Ratangarh temple saw the major stampede during the Navratri celebration. This tragedy resulted in 115 casualties, again proving the mismanagement of the system. Factors like overcrowding, inadequate infrastructure, poor crowd management, and rumours lead to stampedes. It’s high time that management trained themselves for such situations, or the chain of incidents like this will continue.
Edited by Parth Singh
Also Read: https://theglobalic.com/2025/02/16/massive-stampede-at-new-delhi-railway-station-kills-18/
