Of faith and fear

P.S. Chauhan investigates the reasons behind these frequent stampedes

Recent stampede which claimed several lives has instilled a sense of fear amongst devotees. As a matter of fact stampedes have become a part of all the fairs, which Haridwar hosts each year. Leave alone Kumbh. History has it that the city has witnessed some heartrending accidents in the past as well. As many as 17 devotees were crushed to death in a stampede at Har-ki-Pauri on Somvati Amavasya on July 17, 1966, while 50 pilgrims lost their lives in a stampede at Pant Dweep, near Har-ki-Pauri during Kumbh on April, 14, 1986. Twenty-two pilgrims died in a stampede at Gau Ghat, near Shatabdi Bridge, on Somvati Amavasya on July 15, 1996. History has repeated itself during the on-going Kumbh too. Tragedy struck when a cavalcade of cars of a Mahamandleshwar of Juna Akhara crushed some pilgrims to death. Panic stricken devotees ran for their lives and in this run for life railing of the bridge near Birla Ghat, collapsed and dozens of devotees fell down into the fast flowing river. The mela administration has confirmed seven casualties, while the sources say that the number of deaths is high. Dead bodies are being brought for post mortem at the district hospital everyday. Many of the deceased still remain unidentified. Hundreds of devotees are reported to be missing. The state government has ordered a magisterial probe, while most of the political and social outfits are demanding a judicial enquiry into the accident. Praveen Jha, a prominent priest of the Ganga Sabha, suggests that due to swelling number of pilgrims there is an urgent need of expansion of Har-ki-Pauri. At present only 30-40 thousand pilgrims can bathe at Har-Ki-Pauri at one time. The Kumbh mela Officer, Anand Vardhan says that they had planned to expand the ghats of Har-ki-Pauri this time. "But the owners of the structures, which were to be affected, went to the court and the plan could not be executed," says the Kumbh mela officer.

However, Kaushal Shikhola, another prominent priest says that Har-ki-Pauri expansion will not serve the purpose. The holy ghats of Har-ki-Pauri should be thrown open to all pilgrims during all the snans. During the Shahi Snans, Brahm Kund, Har-ki-Pauri remains reserved for most of the day for the sadhus and the mahants. As a result millions of the devotees get only a limited time for bath and there is a melee among the devotees to reach the sanctum sanctorum, resulting in accidents and stampedes.

"The public is supreme. There should be Jan Snan (bath for common men) instead of Shahi Snan (royal bath for sadhus). The sadhus may also bathe along with the common people at Har-ki-Pauri," opines Shikhola. Echoing the same sentiments, Durga Shankar Bhati, a social activist of Bhopatwala, says that the practice of Shahi Snans, preceded by the royal processions of the sadhus, riding on the horses or seated in their chariots and cars or walking on foot, brandishing swords and tridents are fraught with possibilities of accidents and stampedes. "The days of royalty are over. All these practices are hang overs of the middle ages of display of glory and glamour and have become obsolete now," says Bhati. The eye witnesses say that during the last Shahi Snan also the wheeling of swords by Naga Sanyasis created panic among the devotees, resulting in the stampede. The Kumbh mela D.I.G., Alok Sharma admits that during the Shahi Snans the behaviour of many sadhus is highly arrogant. "They need to realise that nobody is above the law," says Sharma. "When the big industrialists and the political big wigs can walk on foot for bath then why can't the mahants and the mandleshwars do the same," asks Rakesh Sharma Rakesh, a well-known scholar and artist of Kankhal.

It has been preached time and again by the mela administration and even by some saints that the snan at any ghat in the mela area during the auspicious days is as beneficial. However, when people see the mahants and the mandleshwars, whom they revere, taking snan only at Brahm Kund, they also scramble, even at the risk of their lives, to take the dip of redemption at Har-ki-Pauri. This time, Shankaracharya Swaroopanand and Shankaracharya Adhokshanand took a good initiative by taking snan at Neel Dhara instead of at Har-ki-Pauri. If the sadhus and mahants start taking snan at other ghats, the devotees may also follow their example and the tremendous pressure of devotees on Har-ki-Pauri may be eased.

Besides this, as suggested by different commissions of enquiry in the past, the mela area should be rid of encroachments. The mela administration started anti-encroachment drive, but later on it had to be given up, obviously under the pressure of the politicians. The entire city is choking with encroachments and illegal constructions. The situation is further worsened as there is no flyover and underpass in the city. All the highways to and from the city are so narrow that traffic management and crowd control during melas of vast magnitude pose a problem beyond the imagination even to the best police forces of the world.