Thursday, 6 February 2025

 

 

 

Crowd Management – Demand Vs. Supply Approach

·      By A. V. Raman*

The human tragedy due to the stampede at the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, has occasioned yet another opportunity to relearn the existing administrative approach from the supply side for managing huge and massive crowds converge at a spot.  The other occasions were the stampedes at Tirupati, The Chennai Air Show and at Hathras in UP last year when many human lives were lost due to poor crowd management.  

 

 Huge crowd gatherings are not new in India. Any occasion is good enough; fairs and festivals, religious discourses, pravachans, sporting events etc. Massive crowds from all over the country gather. Political rallies too gather huge crowds by 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.

 

With our growing population, increased per capita income and improved transport services, crowds swell in large numbers posing enormous problems for Local, State and Central level authorities for providing facilities to any degree of adequacy. Further, there is the unpredictable risk of the crowd getting into a frenzy to rush to the temple for darshan at the auspicious moment or to river front for the pious dip or to the spiritual guru for his personal blessings. There can be no lack in anticipating these exigencies in crowd management. There must also be a Plan B alternative strategy if the crowd suddenly becomes restive. There would also be problem of law and order when anti-social elements get into the fray.

 

In its publication “Managing Crowd at Events and Venues of Mass Gathering” in 2014, the National Disaster Management Authority too lists only precautions and provisions for managing crowds from the Supply side.

 

Therefore, it is time now to address the crowd management from the “Demand" side. In a nutshell, this would comprise policy initiatives to regulate and control the number of the crowd as attendees in fairs and festivals. For instance, promotional campaign to attract crowds   by providing incentives for more and more buses, trains and planes to the sites should be discouraged.  Instead, some additional fares should be charged as a dis- incentive in order maintain safety and comfortable standards of travel. 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 feathers in some quarters. An over-emphasis for the comfort of the rich and powerful may be avoided even if it unsettles the power equation.  A dispassionate understanding and cooperation 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 regulated and even if necessary restricted in number. The ideas here are by no means novel. The have been tried and tested as, for example, in UK during football games attracting unruly crowds in trains, cars and buses. In fact, even during the current Maha-Kumbh in Prayagraj some of these steps have been announced like No VIP Passes, No prolonged stay after the dip, etc. Regrettably they are post- tragedy actions and not preventive steps.

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