<p>The unfortunate but entirely preventable tragedy at an event organised in Bengaluru to celebrate the maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title victory of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) has exposed serious inadequacies of the administration. It underlines an absolute lack of foresight and points to abysmal crowd control systems that led to the death of 11 people in a stampede near the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.</p>.<p>At the centre of the issue is the question whether the state government – the Chief Minister, the Deputy CM, and ministers – should be involved in a function organised to honour cricketers who won a commercially run tournament. When one considers how deeply the IPL has captured the public imagination, the participation of people’s representatives is understandable. Of course, it still needs to be asked if the Deputy CM needed to go to the airport to welcome the team or be a part of the event held at the stadium.</p>.<p>Also, why was there such a great hurry in organising the events on Wednesday itself? A day or two, or even a week later would not have hurt – the fans’ enthusiasm would have reduced by then. It appears that the police had informed the government about the risks considering that emotions were running high. The leaders decided to ignore it. The fan frenzy on Tuesday night should have been indication enough for a logistical nightmare.</p>.When will we learn to prioritise safety?.<p>The questions this tragedy poses and the glaring administrative gaps it highlights are many.</p>.<p>1. The two events, one held at the Vidhana Soudha and the other at the stadium, left much to be desired. The former turned out to be a typical government-organised function – chaotic and unprofessionally managed. The seated RCB players had to confront selfie-seeking children and relatives of ministers and officials.</p>.<p>2. For the powers that be, one look at the humongous crowd gathered in front of them, just a few hundred metres away beyond the barricades, could have indicated the kind of numbers that were incoming.</p>.<p>3. It is shocking that the organisers – the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and the RCB management – chose to go ahead with this event even after the tragedy which happened an hour or two earlier at that very place. The insensitivity was appalling.</p>.<p>4. Questions have been raised over the inadequate number of police personnel deployed near the venue (and on the roads packed with fans). Why were doctors, ambulances, and stretchers absent? Is it not a primary requirement of crowd management? The National Disaster Management Authority has long back issued a 95-page manual detailing the measures to be taken during such events that involve mass gatherings. Were these protocols put in place on Wednesday?</p>.<p>5. Both the functions were held during the evening peak hours, in the heart of the city – this was a recipe for disaster. After the Vidhana Soudha event, people who had gathered there in thousands rushed towards the nearby stadium. By then, the gates of the stadium that had allowed fans’ entry were closed and chaos had already set in.</p>.<p>6. Without proper announcements, fans were left in confusion over the stadium entry. In a post on X, soon after the final on Tuesday night, RCB had said “free passes (limited entry)” were available on its website. Later, there were reports that the entry would be free. There was no formal confirmation regarding this. The KSCA was understood to have started issuing free passes at around 2 pm on Wednesday. To add to the confusion, officials remained incommunicado.</p>.<p>7. It was around noon that the traffic police issued an advisory – too late to help streamline vehicular movement in the CBD area which witnesses major traffic pile-ups even on regular days.</p>.<p>8. Was there proper coordination and communication between the city police and KSCA/RCB who were the organisers of the event? Going by the disastrous outcome, it doesn’t seem so. In a social media post, RCB said – “RCB victory parade: today (Wednesday) at 5 pm IST; victory parade will be followed by celebrations at the Chinnaswamy Stadium”. The KSCA is reported to have written to the government on Tuesday, seeking permission for these two events and the government wanted the event at the Vidhana Soudha. The police are believed to have said no to both the Soudha event and the public parade but finally gave in to government pressure to allow the former.</p>.<p>9. The fans cannot be blamed for thronging near the venues. Their favourite team, a franchise with one of the largest fan bases, had won the trophy for the first time, after an 18-year wait. Their excitement was understandable.</p>.<p><strong>A question of justice</strong></p>.<p>Who is responsible for the loss of 11 innocent lives? Will the magisterial inquiry (in other words, by a government official) bring out the glaring shortcomings in various aspects of crowd management, fix accountability, and ensure harsh and certain punishment or will it just lead to suspension/transfer of a few police officials? Magisterial inquiries have rarely pointed out specific failures of officials or political leaders.</p>.<p>The Bengaluru stampede should be an indictment of an administration that lacked foresight and failed utterly in mobilising its resources and a policing model that was found woefully inadequate. Leaders who didn’t display <br>good judgement and the officialdom found short on operational efficiency to conduct an event of this magnitude, <br>besides the organisers, should face <br>serious consequences.</p>.<p>(The writer is a Bengaluru-based senior journalist)</p>
<p>The unfortunate but entirely preventable tragedy at an event organised in Bengaluru to celebrate the maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title victory of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) has exposed serious inadequacies of the administration. It underlines an absolute lack of foresight and points to abysmal crowd control systems that led to the death of 11 people in a stampede near the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.</p>.<p>At the centre of the issue is the question whether the state government – the Chief Minister, the Deputy CM, and ministers – should be involved in a function organised to honour cricketers who won a commercially run tournament. When one considers how deeply the IPL has captured the public imagination, the participation of people’s representatives is understandable. Of course, it still needs to be asked if the Deputy CM needed to go to the airport to welcome the team or be a part of the event held at the stadium.</p>.<p>Also, why was there such a great hurry in organising the events on Wednesday itself? A day or two, or even a week later would not have hurt – the fans’ enthusiasm would have reduced by then. It appears that the police had informed the government about the risks considering that emotions were running high. The leaders decided to ignore it. The fan frenzy on Tuesday night should have been indication enough for a logistical nightmare.</p>.When will we learn to prioritise safety?.<p>The questions this tragedy poses and the glaring administrative gaps it highlights are many.</p>.<p>1. The two events, one held at the Vidhana Soudha and the other at the stadium, left much to be desired. The former turned out to be a typical government-organised function – chaotic and unprofessionally managed. The seated RCB players had to confront selfie-seeking children and relatives of ministers and officials.</p>.<p>2. For the powers that be, one look at the humongous crowd gathered in front of them, just a few hundred metres away beyond the barricades, could have indicated the kind of numbers that were incoming.</p>.<p>3. It is shocking that the organisers – the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and the RCB management – chose to go ahead with this event even after the tragedy which happened an hour or two earlier at that very place. The insensitivity was appalling.</p>.<p>4. Questions have been raised over the inadequate number of police personnel deployed near the venue (and on the roads packed with fans). Why were doctors, ambulances, and stretchers absent? Is it not a primary requirement of crowd management? The National Disaster Management Authority has long back issued a 95-page manual detailing the measures to be taken during such events that involve mass gatherings. Were these protocols put in place on Wednesday?</p>.<p>5. Both the functions were held during the evening peak hours, in the heart of the city – this was a recipe for disaster. After the Vidhana Soudha event, people who had gathered there in thousands rushed towards the nearby stadium. By then, the gates of the stadium that had allowed fans’ entry were closed and chaos had already set in.</p>.<p>6. Without proper announcements, fans were left in confusion over the stadium entry. In a post on X, soon after the final on Tuesday night, RCB had said “free passes (limited entry)” were available on its website. Later, there were reports that the entry would be free. There was no formal confirmation regarding this. The KSCA was understood to have started issuing free passes at around 2 pm on Wednesday. To add to the confusion, officials remained incommunicado.</p>.<p>7. It was around noon that the traffic police issued an advisory – too late to help streamline vehicular movement in the CBD area which witnesses major traffic pile-ups even on regular days.</p>.<p>8. Was there proper coordination and communication between the city police and KSCA/RCB who were the organisers of the event? Going by the disastrous outcome, it doesn’t seem so. In a social media post, RCB said – “RCB victory parade: today (Wednesday) at 5 pm IST; victory parade will be followed by celebrations at the Chinnaswamy Stadium”. The KSCA is reported to have written to the government on Tuesday, seeking permission for these two events and the government wanted the event at the Vidhana Soudha. The police are believed to have said no to both the Soudha event and the public parade but finally gave in to government pressure to allow the former.</p>.<p>9. The fans cannot be blamed for thronging near the venues. Their favourite team, a franchise with one of the largest fan bases, had won the trophy for the first time, after an 18-year wait. Their excitement was understandable.</p>.<p><strong>A question of justice</strong></p>.<p>Who is responsible for the loss of 11 innocent lives? Will the magisterial inquiry (in other words, by a government official) bring out the glaring shortcomings in various aspects of crowd management, fix accountability, and ensure harsh and certain punishment or will it just lead to suspension/transfer of a few police officials? Magisterial inquiries have rarely pointed out specific failures of officials or political leaders.</p>.<p>The Bengaluru stampede should be an indictment of an administration that lacked foresight and failed utterly in mobilising its resources and a policing model that was found woefully inadequate. Leaders who didn’t display <br>good judgement and the officialdom found short on operational efficiency to conduct an event of this magnitude, <br>besides the organisers, should face <br>serious consequences.</p>.<p>(The writer is a Bengaluru-based senior journalist)</p>
