Amid Bengaluru Stampede, Mumbai's T20 World Cup Victory Parade In Focus

The stampede in Bengaluru amid celebrations over RCB's IPL win that resulted in 11 deaths has brought into focus the feat of Mumbai police, which helmed a massive victory parade with picture-perfect arrangements and clockwork precision following India's T20 World Cup win last year.

Despite the iconic Wankhede stadium and almost the entire stretch of the picturesque Marine Drive turning into a sea of blue on July 4 as almost three lakh people gathered to greet the Indian team, precise placement of barricades, a steady stream of real-time announcements and on the spot decisions of crowd control saved the day, officials said on Friday.

"We had just 36 hours to prepare. We were on our toes and managed around three lakh people. We told the Mumbai Cricket Association that tickets should be issued for such free public events so that crowds can be managed properly. If online tickets are kept for such events, the entry and exit of the people can be monitored and crowding can be avoided," a senior police official told PTI.

While police personnel were being briefed about the event at the 32000-capacity stadium, the massive din outside, which signalled the amassing of a huge crowd, gave authorities a sense of scale, he said.

"Initially, we planned to open the gates around 4 pm. But sensing the crowd build-up, the gates were opened at 2:30 pm, and all were seated in the stadium by 4 pm. While 35,000 persons were in the stadium, the rest were to be accommodated on the roads around. Announcements began to be made about the stadium being out of bounds as it was full," the official said.

People arriving in the area were asked to move in an orderly manner to Marine Drive, the official said.

"Just two days before this event, a stampede in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh had killed 121. So the attention to detail was absolute. Moreover, we had experience of hosting the Indian Air Force's air show at Marine Drive in January (2024), which was attended by several thousand persons," he said.

A highlight of the arrangements, the official recollected, was the binding instruction not to resort to lathi-charge for untoward incidents.

It was decided that barricades would play a vital role in crowd management and flow, along with heavy deployment of police at all points, he said, adding that constant announcements from loudspeakers kept everyone in the loop about the situation and what was expected of them.

He praised the crowd for following the instructions of the police properly.

"The Indian team came in cars till NCPA (at the southern tip of Marine Drive) and then got on to the bus, which moved through the crowd of revellers. The bus was given two layers of security," the official said.

Then police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar and special police commissioner Deven Bharti, who incidentally heads the metropolis' force now, personally monitored the crowd.

Minor incidents of suffocation and stampede-like situations reported near Churchgate station were defused with the timely intervention of police, with people arriving at the station by trains being asked to go back, the official said.

The event was held successfully because police had given attention to even minute issues, like asking people not to bend down to pick up slippers that get left behind, as such acts can trigger a chain of events ending in stampedes, he said.

Three trucks full of footwear were collected by civic workers following the event, the official pointed out.

The stampede in Bengaluru occurred on Wednesday evening in front of the stadium, where a large number of people thronged to participate in the RCB team's IPL victory celebrations. Eleven people died and 56 were injured in the incident.

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