Centre must set crowd management protocols: Surjewala

New Delhi: Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala on Monday demanded that accountability be fixed for the loss of lives in Puri Rath Yatra stampede and suggested measures like country-wide standard protocols for crowd management and the setting up of crowd safety task force by states.

Three persons, including two women, were killed and over 50 others injured in a stampede near Shree Gundicha Temple in Odisha’s Puri early Sunday during a ceremony related to the ongoing Rath Yatra festivities. The incident occurred around 4:20 am on Sunday when thousands of devotees had gathered near the chariots parked in front of the temple.

Surjewala claimed that some "unpardonable glaring failures" of the BJP government in Odisha stand out in the incident.

He said that the entry and exit gates were on the same route which was also being used for 'VIP entry'. Surjewala also noted that the arrangements had broken down a night before as the polythene spread had become slippery and many devotees had slipped and fallen, a precursor to what would happen if there was a larger crowd.

Odisha government had "failed to put sufficient police or security arrangements. Ambulances were placed a kilometre away. There were no stretchers available and the injured had to be carried ‘on hands’. Two trucks were permitted to come before the Rath of Lord Jagannath. Resultantly, many devotees got hit and fell down.

"The arrangements tell a tale of bungled up arrangements, VIP entry being a principal culprit, lack of security protocols and failure of political and administrative leadership. The simple question is are we learning from mistakes," he said in a post on X.

The Rajya Sabha MP said while the Congress welcomed the intense TV media scrutiny and accountability, including protests by BJP, post the unfortunate Bangaluru stampede and tragedy, "similar accountability must be sought from Modi Government, BJP’s Maharashtra Government for the Thane train tragedy and BJP’s Odisha government for Puri Rath Yatra tragedy".

"It can’t be a case of 'your tragedy' V/S 'our tragedy', for every life matters and every accident must be prevented as also lessons learnt for preventive measures in the future," the Congress general secretary said.

He said all these horrific incidents, where lives were lost, make out a clear-cut case for the setting up country-wide standard protocols for 'crowd management' by the Centre, leaving the discretion to states to taper them to local conditions.

Surjewala also called for the formation of 'state crowd safety task force' (SCSTF) for crowds of 50,000 and above, under the Home department comprising members of the state police, Home Guards, Disaster Management Authority, public works, health, local bodies and event organisers.

The Centre must meet 50 per cent of the expenditure of the task force, he noted while suggesting the use of AI, drones, crowd simulation, CCTV cameras and control room monitoring as compulsory assisting tools along with adequate deployment of security personnel on the ground.

Listing several proposed measures, he also demanded that categorisation of events based on the expected crowd, Green (below 10,000), Orange (below 50,000) and Red (Above 50,000) and placing the protocols accordingly.

Some mandatory pre-event clearances in case of above 50,000 crowd events, like mandatory clearance by police, PWD, fire departments, approval of stage, entry and exit points, public announcement systems at every 300 meters, deployment of Marshals trained for ‘Non Lethal dispersal techniques’ and ‘First Aid & CPR’.

He also called for a completely separate and independent VIP entry and exit, and the VIP entry to be never clubbed with general entry and to be at a distance of a minimum 300 metres.

"I am certain these are not exhaustive and experts from IITs and other fields can be brought in, along with real-time experience of handling large crowds. This is a beginning that must be made along with accountability affixation," the Congress leader said.