PANAJI
The stampede -- the first ever at the centuries-old annual festival – highlighted glaring lapses in crowd control and administrative preparedness. While the district administration failed to provide details on the readiness even during the festival, the highest-ever deployment of 1,012 police personnel did help.
“It was a bad day. Things have obviously gone wrong. There were certain shortcomings, although measures were taken to ensure smooth occurrence of the festival,” an officer admitted to The Goan on condition of anonymity.
Sources revealed that separate police teams under Police Inspectors of Mopa, Bicholim, Anjuna, Mapusa and Colvale were stationed strategically, whereas SDPO Bicholim was tasked with overall supervision.
Roughly 350 officers and personnel were on night duty. However, it has emerged that no mock drill was conducted in the lead-up to the mega event, despite expectations of a massive turnout. “There were sufficient police personnel. But nobody could have imagined a stampede-like situation,” another officer confessed.
As distressing visuals from the scene went viral, showing hapless devotees struggling amid the melee, allegations began surfacing that the police stood as mute spectators. Director General of Police Alok Kumar was quick to deflect blame, claiming that police intervention helped contain what could have spiralled into a far bigger disaster.
“We estimate there were around 1 to 1.5 lakh devotees. The situation was brought under control swiftly,” the DGP said.
He later told The Goan that the police deployment was adequate, which allowed for a swift response. “Because of the sufficient police arrangements, the incident was contained within a small area,” he added.
Another officer asserted that the force's timely rescue efforts helped shift nearly 40 injured victims to nearby hospitals using seven police vehicles including two robots. According to this officer, around 50-70,000 devotees were present when the stampede occurred.
While the law mandates pre-festival coordination meetings with organizers to assess crowd levels and chalk out control strategies, sources there was barely any coordination among the line departments and the Temple Committee.
Some policemen privately admitted that controlling such a vast crowd, especially during sensitive religious moments is no easy task. “At times, some devotees just don’t listen. They push past barricades and even confront police. During such times, police prefer not to escalate the situation,” one official said, adding that fear of public backlash during religious fervour may have influenced a passive response.
Another officer, present at the time of the stampede, admitted that some of them were clueless about what happened until they quickly took over the situation. “Yes, there was a moment when the police were unsure of what was happening, but they quickly took control. The situation could have escalated into a major stampede. However, the police managed it well, and despite the incident around 4 am, the rituals continued until 6:30 am without further disruption,” he said.
Senior officers are expected not only to brief personnel but also to monitor the situation in real time and intervene if necessary. Setting up a camp office at the site with senior officers present to oversee operations, is part of the protocol. However, it remains unclear whether these steps were followed.
