Allahabad: The Number of People who died during the Stampede at Allahabad Railway Station has reached 36 making it one of the worst incidents in the History of Kumbh Mela. In another development, Azam Khan, the President of Kumbh Mela Organizing Committee has resigned from his post taking a moral responsibility for the incident.
“Thirty six people have been killed and more than a dozen people injured at the Allahabad station stampede. We have identified 20 of those killed, including 14 women and six men. Sixteen others are yet to be identified,” a state government official said.
“We have set up a helpline at the Delhi railway station,” Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had told reporters in Delhi late Sunday.
Though the minister did not specify the cause of the accident, he denied the claim of state government officials and said the railing of the over bridge did not break.
“As per my information, the railing did not break…we are trying to verify this,” Bansal said.
A cane charge-prompted stampede preceded the tragedy at 7.15 p.m. on platform numbers 5 and 6 of the Allahabad railway station, which hosted over three crore (30 million) devotees at the Kumbh Mela’s biggest bathing day of ‘Mauni Amavasya’, district officials said.
The tragedy occurred on the foot overbridge between platforms 5 and 6 when the railing collapsed due to overcrowding. Several people fell on the tracks and down the stairs, the officials said.
After the deaths, the Uttar Pradesh government requested the railways to shift some trains from the busy Allahabad station to the Prayag station on the outskirts of the city, 200 km from state capital Lucknow, an official said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condoled the death of pilgrims in the stampede and directed central ministries, including the railways, to extend all possible help to the state government in relief operations.
Some witnesses said people were cane-charged by police just before the incident as the crowd was becoming unruly and plying of trains had come to a halt.
As soon as the bridge’s railing broke, there was a stampede, another witness told IANS.
Abhijeet Das, a passenger on platform number 6, accused the police of cane-charge and said that it led to the stampede. “Medical help did not arrive for over two hours,” he said.
Police cordoned off the area and closed entry into the station. Trains coming to the Sangam city were halted at the Prayag railway station.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, condoling the loss of life, ordered a probe.
“A committee, headed by the chairman of the revenue board, has been formed by the chief minister to look into the reasons leading to the tragedy,” an official told IANS.
The state government also asked the railway ministry to ply more special trains so that the crowd in Allahabad could ease.
While north central railways (NCR) ran 17 special trains for the ‘Mauni Amavasya’, arrangements turned out to be insufficient.
“We made elaborate arrangements but there has been an unfortunate incident. Our first priority is to attend to the injured,” said Sandeep Mathur, chief public relations officer of NCR.
The trains were meant to augment the crowds returning after a holy dip at the Kumbh Mela and take passengers to New Delhi, Indore, Kanpur, Varanasi, Ahmedabad and other places, a railway official said.
He said most people at the Allahabad railway station were headed to Fatehpur, Etawah, Tundla, Shikohabad, Firozabad, Aligarh, Khurja and Manikpur stations and hence the crowd became unmanageable and swelled to unexpected numbers.
Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said that he would be going to Allahabad to monitor the situation as three more bathing days at the Maha Kumbh were scheduled.
He added that a massive rush caused the stampede at the Allahabad railway station and the administration is now clearing platforms of passengers.
“I am going to Allahabad with the Railway Board chairman to see the situation and preparations as three more bathing days are scheduled in the coming days,” Bansal told reporters.
He denied that Sunday night’s stampede was caused by the collapse of a foot overbridge and said all arrangements were in place at the station.
“I am saying it again that the foot overbridge did not collapse and neither did the railing of the bridge,” he said.
Recounting what had happened, Bansal said: “There was massive rush and passengers broke the barricades. Thousands of people were on the foot overbridge. In such situations, anything can happen.”
Giving the break-up of the dead and the injured, Basal said 36 people had died while 39 were injured, three critically.
He also denied reports of poor arrangements at the railway station.
“Arrangements were made well in advance and there was colour coding at railway station to divert the rush according to destinations. All arrangements were in place,” said Bansal.
He said the full focus of the railway administration is on clearing passengers from the Allahabad railway station.
“I have spoken to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and the governor (B.L. Joshi). Even now there is a lot of rush at Allahabad railway station,” he said.
“Several special trains have been running since Sunday from Allahabad. The railways will run 220 special trains for next three days (Feb 11-13) to clear the rush. We are also trying to arrange more trains,” he said.
Bansal said the lists of the dead and injured have been put on the North Central Railway website.
“Apart from the compensation announced by the prime minister, we will give Rs.1 lakh each to the kin of the dead, Rs.50,000 to the critically injured and Rs.25,000 to victims with minor injuries. Arrangements have been made to treat the injured,” he said.
“Besides, we are offering two AC second class passes each to the relatives of the victims who want to go to Allahabad and come back,” he said