Centre’s rules for managing crowds ignored in Maha Pushkaralu festival
Hyderabad: The administrative machinery, comprising officials from various departments and the police, failed to follow “crowd management” guidelines prepared by the National Disaster Management Authority for smooth conduct of big events like Maha Pushkarams.
The NDMA crowd management guidelines make it mandatory for registration of incoming pilgrims so that they can be regulated to different queues and ghats at various places during separate timings. All the big talk by the tech-savvy state state administration about GPS and information technology for smooth conduct of the event went for a toss due to non-regulation of pilgrims.
Several safety precautions in the NDMA crowd management document, which has been prepared with the help of experts from IIMs and IITs among others, were overlooked. NDMA former vice-chairman Dr Marri Shashidhar Reddy said during such huge congregational religious events, demand outstrips supply at many places leading to overcrowding. There is a need for an input control i.e. restricting the number of entries at each ghat.
Online registration facility or manual tokens could have been provided to pilgrims at railway stations, bus stands and at entrance at ghats. Pilgrims should have been allotted different ghats at different times. “Registration of lakhs of pilgrims can be done if the entire process is planned properly and the NDMA manual has put in place every step on how to go about achieving it,” Dr Shashidhar Reddy said. “A database with details of pilgrims’ gender, age, and place etc, are always useful in making better arrangements. At some of the popular shrines, this registration is also the insurance cover for the visitor,” he said.
A mandatory registration process makes possible to influence arrivals, inform about peak hours, have priority queues, and VIP visits during non-peak hours.
Former additional deputy commissioner of police Reddanna said the official machinery, including the police, should understand crowd arrival patterns and public transport timetables.
Both, Mr Shashidhar Reddy and Mr Reddanna, blamed the failure of the official machinery, including police, to regulate pilgrims to different ghats and failing to allow them in batches to go for the dip. They said a long wait by at the ghat where the tragedy occurred, and too many pilgrims being allowed to rush for the holy bath was the reason for the stampede.
They said there are nearly 160 ghats in East and West Godavari districts, but lakhs of pilgrims opted for Pushkar ghat and the one at Kotilingala Revu in Rajahmundry, as the town has good connectivity. Rajahmundry is also connected by air. They said the official machinery failed to anticipate such a huge crowd and was unable to prevent concentration of pilgrims at one or two ghats.
