What do stampede deaths convey?

By M L Satyan

Coimbatore, June 6, 2025: I lived in Bengaluru for 20 long years. Almost three to four days in a week I used to pass through Chinnaswamy Indoor stadium. I have seen long queues waiting to purchase tickets for cricket matches. Also, I have seen big crowds entering the stadium and coming out of the stadium during cricket matches.

But I have never ever seen such terrible scenes of scattered shoes, trampled jerseys, and abandoned fan merchandise that marked the site of a deadly stampede at Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4. In the stadium an event was organized to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL win. But it turned into a tragedy which claimed 11 lives and more than 50 people injured.

The chaos unfolded as hundreds of thousands of fans flooded the stadium’s periphery. In their desperation to glimpse their cricketing heroes, young men scaled walls, clung to electric poles, and even climbed towering trees, until the frenzy gave way to horror.

The chief minister and the deputy chief minister of Karnataka mentioned in their statements that a crowd of more than 300,000 people was unexpected. Ultimately, the tragic event proves the utter failure of the government machineries. Their preparedness to protect the lives of the common people was almost zero. Will the relief amount compensate the precious lives?

Regarding cricket there is a saying: “Eleven persons play and eleven thousand fools watch.” Common people, especially the youngsters, become easy victims of cricket mania. Time, money, energy and human resources spent/wasted for this one game can never be justified in the Indian context where even today more than 35 percent population lives below poverty line. In the same country, cricket players earn huge money and lead royal life untouched by the miseries of common people.

During the Maha Kumbh Mela the nation witnessed two stampedes – one at the Kumbh Mela site and another at the New Delhi railway station. Hundreds of innocent people lost their lives. Once again, the root cause of these tragic deaths was the utter failure of the government machineries.

In India various religions co-exist. We live in a multi-religious context. A vast majority of the people are religious-minded. Unfortunately, selfish religious leaders have converted God and religion into commercial commodities. These religious leaders thrive on the “religious business”. For this, they keep brainwashing common people.

Karl Marx once said that religion is the opium of the people. Innocent, illiterate and ignorant people become victims of religious fanaticism or religious mania. The religious leaders always keep themselves in a safe place and rarely bother about the lives of the simple people. How many religious leaders condemned the stampede deaths during Maha Kumbh Mela? May be one or two.

The stampede deaths also occur among the film fans in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. A vast majority follow hero/heroine worship. When new movies of their favourite heroes are released, the fans crowd at the theatres causing stampede-like situations. On the one side, the film fanatics, mostly youngsters, become victims of film mania. On the other side, the film actors/actresses earn in crores and lead a comfortable life.
Infamous stampede disasters:
• Allahabad Kumbh Mela Stampede (1954) resulted in approximately 800 deaths.
• Wai Stampede (2005) at the Mandhardevi temple in Maharashtra where 340 people lost their lives.
• Naina Devi Temple Stampede (2008) in which at least 145 people were killed.
• Jodhpur Temple Stampede (2008) took the lives of 168 individuals.
• Allahabad Railway Stampede (2013) lead to 36 deaths.
• Mumbai Pedestrian Bridge Stampede (2017) killed 22 people and injured 32.
• Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine stampede (2022) in Jammu and Kashmir left 22 dead and 32 injured.
• Hathras Stampede (2024) killed 121 people, mostly women.
• The Maha Kumbh Mela (2025) stampede took the lives of many pilgrims.

Major Causes of Stampede:
• Collapse of unauthorized structures, narrow roads, absence of emergency exits, or difficult terrain.
• Fires, faulty electrical connections, building code violations or power outages cause panic.
• Overcrowding, understaffing, locked exits, and poor event planning.
• Panic, rush for supplies, competition at events, or irresponsible behaviour of attendees.
• Insufficient or untrained security personnel, inadequate supervision, and poor emergency response systems.
• Poor inter-agency cooperation, insufficient resources, and delays in communication or negotiation

Possible preventive measures:
• Deploy a network of sensors to monitor crowd density in real-time. This data can feed into AI models to predict crowd surges and trigger early warnings.
• Introduce Radio Frequency Identification tags in tickets or wristbands. This allows for real-time tracking of crowd movement, identifying congested areas, and enabling targeted communication via displays.
• Use drones equipped with high-resolution cameras and thermal imaging for real-time crowd surveillance and anomaly detection. These can also project calming messages or announcements on large screens.
 Implement crowd-responsive lighting that can adjust brightness and colour based on crowd density to guide movement or calm situations.
• Implement pathways and walkways embedded with bioluminescent materials that automatically glow brighter in case of emergencies. This can guide movement and reduce panic in low-light situations.
 Install interactive displays that show real-time wait times, evacuation routes, and essential information in multiple languages.
 Launch public awareness campaigns to educate people on crowd safety protocols and proper behaviour during large gatherings.

In short, it is the duty and responsibility of every citizen to safeguard himself/herself. It is also the responsibility of all government machineries to ensure the strict implementation of all possible preventive measures so that no human life is lost.