Prioritise crowd-control and safety measures for sports extravaganzas

Readers will have seen reports in the media about the stampede at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on June 4, in which 11 people lost their lives, and 56 were left injured. Several causes are being attributed to the tragic disaster, including fans on the rampage, poor anticipation and inadequate control measures and regrettable lapses, in the matter of preparedness to ensure safety of the public, on the part of the official machinery, including the police.

The fact that the home grown Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was in the IPL 2025 fray, and fancied to win the tournament, should have made the organisers and the authorities to realise the need for extra precautions.

One would have expected the organisers and police to put in places barricades to control entry of the crowd into the stadium. Having failed to do that, the least they could have done was to disperse the mob which was thrusting at the closed stadium gates. The most inexplicable shortcoming in the situation was the absence of officials on the scene, despite prior knowledge about an event of such a magnitude. Another fact that contributed to the tragedy was the absence of an adequate number of exits with enough capacity for the crowd to get out leading to panic, excitement, and stampede. After all, it is not unknown that such high–energy events or celebrations, in the absence of requisite controls, can quickly escalate into a situation such as that.

And it is not as if such events have not occurred in the past, from which lessons could have been learnt. For instance, the Luzhniki Stadium disaster in Moscow, the Hillsborough Stadium tragedy in Sheffield, the Accra Sports Stadium in Ghana, and the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. All those events, including the recent one at Bangalore, have served to highlight the importance of crowd-control and safety measures in stadiums.

The Bangalore incident was followed by the classic situation of political leaders blaming each other; the opposition blaming the government for inadequate anticipation and ineffective response, and the government, in turn, accusing the opposition of politicising a tragic disaster.

The phenomenon was not unlike what happened in the wake of the unprecedented super cyclone and tsunami which ravaged the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh in 1977. Leaders from Delhi arrived at Vijayawada, visited the affected areas, came back, assembled the media and, as a very senior official wryly put it, opened their mouths only to put their feet in them!

Experts on crowd management have made several suggestions to prevent such strategies in the future, including strengthening the crowd management apparatus, in the departments concerned of the governments, ensuring the presence of adequate number of security personnel on the spot, making sure of the availability of exit routes with sufficient capacity and adoption of effective communication strategies.

Avoiding overbooking of sports events which can lead to crowds assembling in excess of the capacity of the premises, adequate and effective emergency preparedness measures, and the posting of trained and readily available medical personnel in the stadium, are other such measures recommended by experts. Generation of public awareness in the fans about safety protocols and encouraging responsible behaviour during the events, it has been recommended, will also ensure improved safety. Also, in the future, stadia will need to undergo improvements in their design to improve flow and access to exits.

According to data recently compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), India arguably has recorded the highest number of stampedes and resultant injuries, having recorded close to 4000 such incidents since 1996, resulting in more than 3000 deaths.

Any discussion about crowd management, reminds me of the days when I was posted, as Sub Collector at Ongole. The agitation for a separate Andhra state was on and the entire state had come to virtual standstill. Commerce, transport, and the government machinery, well everything had come to a complete halt.

One day, an enraged crowd attacked the railway station and caused massive damage. Prasad, the Collector of the district and Ramaswamy, the Superintendent of Police (SP), rushed to the spot. After some time, when measures such as a lathi charge and tear gas proved futile, they were constrained to ask the police to open fire. As a result, four people were killed and several others injured. As the crowd started to disperse, they went on a rampage around the town and mindlessly destroyed everything in sight, even setting fire to some facilities, such as the office of the District Collector and the post office.

When, in retrospect, the Collector, SP and I sat and reviewed what happened, the consensus was that, given foresight and adequate preparedness and a modicum of tact and patience, the situation could have been averted. Moreover, having done what was needed, adequate measures ought to have been taken to ensure that the dispersed crowd was prevented from causing damage by appropriate follow up action. An abject lesson, indeed, in crowd management.

While on the subject of large crowds, I am reminded of an incident involving myself. Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had been elected Chief Minister and was being sworn in at the spacious Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. As Chief Secretary, it was my duty to receive him on arrival and conduct him to the dais. As it happened, however, following a comedy of errors, I reached the spot at the other end of the stadium and had to literally run, to reach the spot where the entrance was. And lo and behold! The Chief Minister received me with a warm smile, instead of the other way round, with me sporting a sheepish grin in apology!

(The writer was formerly

Chief Secretary,

Government of

Andhra Pradesh)