Vaishno Devi: Improper Crowd Management, Period
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-01-03 14:06:03
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
The tragic incident (in which 12 pilgrims were crushed to death in a stampede) that happened at Vaishno Devi temple on the first day of the year, while being unfortunate, showed that those who were tasked with managing the flow of the crowd completely abdicated their duty and allowed far too many people to queue up (if those could be called queues) and enter the shrine. That this happened during these scary times was all the more disturbing. But what is even more disturbing is the fact that instead of soul searching and examining where they went wrong (to correct the same in future), there is an attempt by the Shrine Board to cover up management inefficiency by saying that the incident that happened was due to "a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims", after which things went out of hand.
The fact is that despite allegedly allowing lesser number of people (35000 against the normal 50000 as capped by the National Green Tribunal) due to the Covid situation, the crowd management was far from efficient (as a viewing of the visuals show). There were multiple lines with people jostling with each other and far too many people were being allowed inside the cave all at once. It was utter chaos and it seemed no one was interested in restoring order. Even if there was a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims, it could have taken place only because everything was disorderly. And if the pilgrims were fighting, why did the security not stop them and allowed things to escalate, especially when there was a huge crowd?
It is extremely distressing that despite being used to such huge crowds during festive occasions and other holidays, the management does not have a crowd management protocol in place and if it has one, it was not on display that day. Although the route of Vaishno Devi temple does not allow for orderly lines like, say, Tirupati or Shirdi, but there is nothing which prevents the management from having a single, or few separated lines, of pilgrims with a preset number allowed inside the cave. Others should be allowed inside only when the first group exits and there should be a fixed time limit to pray inside. But as usual, chaos is something which administrations in India love. But it is chaos which has resulted in the loss of 12 lives. The compensation announced is of little solace to those who lost their near and dear ones. Hence, the Shrine Board must find out exactly what went wrong and fix accountability to ensure that such tragic incidents do not happen in the future.
