Chennai Air Show

Last week in Chennai a massive crowd of lakhs and lakhs of people gathered in Marina Beach to watch the IAF air show. Unfortunately, the surge of the crowd to leave after the show has resulted in serious traffic dislocation in all modes like cars, busses? Suburban Railway and the Metro. Owing to severe heat and the health condition of many spectators 5 deaths and many hospital cases of injuries etc have been reported As a student of economics, I am convinced that the approach in crowd management should no longer be supply side strategy but based on Demand side strategy which is what I wrote in my following blog rambler raman Friday 12 July 2024 Crowd Management: An Alternative Perspective Huge crowd gatherings are not new to India. Any occasion is good enough; fairs and festivals, religious discourses pravachans, sporting events etc. Massive crowds from all over the country gather like at Kumbh Melas. Political parties too gather huge crowds providing free transport and other incentives. In recent times, the national passion for cricket has also become a big crowd puller. Organisers of these events obtain permission form Local Administrations and the latter provide facilities like drinking water, toilet, temporary accommodation in tents, special buses and trains to and from the site, first-aid, general medical and sanitary services to control spread of diseases like cholera, etc. Managing Crowd at Events and Venues of Mass Gathering, a 2014 publication of National Disaster Management Authority is replete with details of precautions and provisions for managing crowds. These only represent the strategy in crowd management from the ""Supply" side. With a growing population, increased per capita income and improved transport services, crowds swell in large numbers every year posing enormous problems for Local authorities to provide these facilities adequately. Further, there is the unpredictable risk of the crowd getting into a frenzy to rush to the temple, river or the spiritual guru to have darshan, the holy bath or blessings of the Guru. If there is lack of any of the arrangements, heaven forbid, the catastrophe of human misery of death and injury of hundreds of people. Added to these is the problem of law and order when anti-social elements get into the fray. No matter how adequately or efficiently they are provided, there would always be a gap between what is required and what is provided. Therefore, it is time to address the crowd management problem from "Demand" side. . In a nutshell, this would comprise policy initiatives to curb the crowd attendance in fairs and festivals. At best, encouragement by providing incentives for travel to the sites should be stopped forthwith.as some State governments announced free trains and buses to Ayodhya after the Ram Mandir consecration. Instead, some additional fare could have been levied to transport the devotees in safety and comfort. . Another option could be to stagger the fairs in two or three segments spread over a month. For instance, the Shahi Snan (Bath) in Kumbh Mela could be on two days of the same Shukla/Krishna Paksha "Thithis" occurring at monthly interval... These ideas may not be brushed aside even if they ruffle the feathers.in some sections of the people A dispassionate understanding and cooperation of Heads of religious and social groups should dispel any objection if they realise the implication of an unrestricted crowd the limited resources for provision of safety and comfort and the grave risk of damage to life and property if crowds are not restricted in number.