Before anything else, recognise a national tragedy

Saturday evening's sordid tragedy that claimed at least 19 lives in a stampede in Durga Pujo-celebrating Kolkata is a national tragedy. To not recognise this, is the bigger tragedy. Aftermath of the disaster has been bone-achingly familiar: political whataboutery, compensation to victims, arrests, a special investigation team. What the ticking of these boxes fails to do each time is instil non-negotiable norms and practices to prevent such tragedies in the first place.

The cause of the crush - reportedly after a public announcement was made over the loudspeaker by a pujo organising committee member that part of the pandal had collapsed in the rains - will be found: reportedly a massive panic rush towards a severely narrow, Chakravyuha-like exit stretch. But will this calamity change habits - not just of organisers and authorities who have allowed such criminal laxity, but also of the citizenry themselves? Saturday's disaster resulted squarely from the absence of any concrete crowd-control measures. It was compounded by what can only be deemed as 'herd mentality', with crowds more intent on collecting 'one more selfie' at a big-ticket pandal, and pujo organisers capturing 'record turnouts' via drone footage, than caring about safety.

Such fatalism must be stopped. India's crowd management record has been abysmal, even when there have been no carnages. Flouting of basic civic norms and safety regulations - apparently, there were no ambulance services nearby - and lack of common sense seem to add up to a death wish. If authorities - in West Bengal today, and across India tomorrow - do not make implementation of norms and regulations non-negotiable and permanent, the Chorbagan stampede will be another statistic in a litany of future tragedies.