No Data on ‘Maha Kumbh Stampede’ Maintained by Central Government

Regarding the harrowing stampede during the Maha Kumbh, the central government informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (March 18) that no data on casualties and injured victims is maintained with the central government. The Uttar Pradesh government conducted an inquiry into the Maha Kumbh stampede.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai shared the information while replying to a question by Congress MPs K.C. Venugopal and Kirsan Namdeo about the number of people killed and injured in the stampede.
Mr. Rai said "public order" and "police" were state subjects, according to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

“Organisation of religious congregations, crowd management, provision of amenities to devotees, prevention of any type of disaster during congregations, etc., are closely linked to ‘public order,’ which is a state subject,” he added.

"Conducting any type of inquiry into any type of disasters occurring in a state, including stampedes, and provision of financial assistance to families of deceased devotees and injured persons, also come under the purview of the concerned state governments. State governments are competent to deal with such situations. No such data is maintained centrally," he said in a written reply.

The Union Minister also said that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had circulated detailed guidelines on crowd management at events and venues of mass gatherings. Moreover, crowd control guidelines were also issued by the Bureau of Police Research and Development.

He said the Union home ministry had issued an advisory to all states and Union territories, where it advised them to use these guidelines in preparing their own standard operating procedures for crowd management.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Inspector General of Police Vaibhav Krishna had said that the stampede that occurred on January 29 at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj led to 30 pilgrims dead and 60 injured.