Prayagraj tragedy: Who is responsible?
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It is painful and distressing to hear the news that several pilgrims were killed and numerous others were injured in a stampede during the holy dip at the Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) in Uttar Pradesh. Although the official death toll is more than 30, local and international media have reported that 58 bodies are seen in hospital mortuaries alone, many of the injured are in serious condition, and many more are missing. The Amrit snan, which is performed at the Triveni Sangam, which is the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers, is believed to grant salvation. Police say the tragedy was caused by the rushing of a large crowd of devotees who had gathered to take a holy dip with the saints on the special day of Mauni Amavasya. Authorities explain that the barricade collapsed under the pressure of the crowd and those who fell in the stampede were unable to escape. This was the Mahakumbh Mela, which takes place only once in 144 years. Devotees from all over the country had come for the Mela.
With religious rituals and celebrations gaining importance in modern India, the UP government came forward as the overall organizer of the Mela. The government of Yogi Adityanath had boasted of significant infrastructure improvements. However, there is now widespread criticism that the enthusiasm shown while making the promise has not been matched by a proper setting up of facilities. Authorities, who had announced that lakhs of devotees would attend the Sangam, were criticized for failing to put in place adequate security and crowd control measures leading to the tragedy. Eyewitnesses recounted that there were no facilities to control the crowd and it took a long time to get the injured to the hospital. The segregation of pilgrims into VIPs and non-VIPs is cited as the main cause of the accident. A large percentage of temporary bridges set up to cross the Ganga River were reserved only for VIP pilgrims and main roads were blocked, causing major crowding on other bridges and relatively smaller roads. Things got out of hand as the time for Mauni Amavasya snan neared, and people crowded these bridges and roads. Not enough attention was given to making the necessary arrangements and providing security for the regular devotees because the officials were looking after the VIPs.
Following the tragedy, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to cancel VVIP passes, restrict vehicular traffic and appoint more experienced officials to manage the situation. This is evidently an implicit acknowledgement that the arrangements were not acceptable. Systems that become proactive only after a disaster has occurred cannot be trusted. This is not the first time that accidents, tragedies, and loss of life and property have occurred at the Kumbh Mela and similar religious events in the country and around the world. There were large and small accidents even during the previous Kumbh Melas. But every such time temporary solutions are used to cover up the actual reasons for the lapses. We can expect only such actions for this Kumbh Mela also. There has still been no official confirmation of the number of deaths, injuries, or missing even a day after the tragedy. The national media, competing to cover all sorts of news in the city, is maintaining silence by not publishing anything about the extent of the incident, as if being afraid of someone - a form of self-censorship. The fear of reprisals they had faced for publishing news that the corpses of those who died due to Covid were thrown in the river may be what prompted them to take such a stand. However, relying on foreign media and social media to get information is likely to create more difficulties. Authorities should not hesitate to disclose facts and seek solutions. If necessary, even seeking military service for guidance and support should be considered. At the same time, the approach of commercializing everything and turning it into a tool for exploitation should also be abandoned.
