The stampede at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh — the third such incident in recent months — confirms India’s dubious distinction of having the most number of deaths during religious gatherings. While the day’s developments have not yielded conclusive reasons for the stampede that happened in the early hours of January 29, initial investigations suggest an uncontrolled surge of devotees at the bathing ghats. The Uttar Pradesh government had estimated that a hundred million people would have their holy dips on Mauni Amavasya, an auspicious occasion which fell on January 29. According to government estimates, more than a third of those who were expected had performed the ritual early — 36 million people by 10 a.m. — despite temporary closures of the roads leading to Prayagraj after the stampede. This measure of regulating traffic into the city could have been proactively implemented, ensuring a steady and manageable stream of devotees, as the government was well aware of a surge in numbers. The focus, unsurprisingly, is again on the lack of crowd management and the prioritisation of VIP visitors over the common man.

What has been even more alarming was the State government’s delay in formally announcing the fatalities and those injured — 30 dead and over 60 injured — deviating from established protocols of transparency during disasters. It is reminiscent of the opacity of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his government after the widespread deaths during the second COVID-19 wave in March 2021, the scale of which was evident later when horrific images of bodies floating in the Ganga emerged. This is the sixth stampede in one of the Kumbhs in the past 70 years, an event that takes place every three years at one of four holy sites for Hindus, at Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain. While the reasons for each stampede have been different, they still point to either a lack of fire safety, crowd mismanagement and VIPs disruptions, or creaking infrastructure. They also indicate a post-facto treatment of the cause and a disregard for holistic planning. The State government has been most innovative in managing the 45-day-long Maha Kumbh, with aerial surveillance and a tracking of mobile movements to monitor people. It is also an unprecedented achievement to even attempt to handle a population, although transitionary, that is twice that of Uttar Pradesh’s, between January 13 and February 26 when the Maha Kumbh ends. The Hindu had reported on the arrangements for the 65 kilometre temporary district around the Triveni Sangam, but the confluence itself is only about a kilometre in diameter, requiring constant vigil and steady crowd management.