DEATHS THAT CAN BE PREVENTED

Two stampede incidents topped the headlines recently.

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Twenty train passengers were killed while trying to board a crowded train in New Delhi, a tragedy that came soon after the stampede at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj. These happened even before we could recover from the horrible images of death, mourning, rushing ambulances and children wailing at the series of stampedes that happened in the past one year at Hathras, where 121 people died in a preacher’s function, at Hyderabad during the screening of a blockbuster movie, and at the Tirupati temple. We are pained at deaths of innocent civilians happening in clusters so often. Unlike the mass mortality that happens in other conflict-ridden countries due to bombing, gunfights and terrorist attacks, bulk deaths in India are due to stampedes.

India is crowded with a burgeoning population of 1.4 billion. Wherever we go, we see only people in this country. Crowds gather at temples, festivals, fun shows, big movie releases, star performances, and sports events. When the situation becomes panic-stricken and uncontrolled, the crowd becomes a mad mob, totally callous in its apathy to the fellow human being.

Most of the people who are killed in stampedes are the poor and the downtrodden. In a busy six-day work schedule which has infiltrated the lives of all people, a chance to visit the temple on an auspicious day or meet their hero or watch a show seems to be the only outlet for people to share a family moment together. On such occasions, only a spark is needed to initiate the stampede.