In India a huge crowd can gather for any reason, anywhere and anytime. May be it for demonstration against the authority, religious or spiritual gatherings, road accidents or a film shoot, crowd gathers immediately as soon as the event takes place.

But there are sometimes when such gatherings and crowd result in some of the horrifying and deadly incidents.

Some of these infamous incidents are:

• One of the deadliest fires in the history of Indian cinema broke out at Uphaar cinema in Delhi on June 13 1997. Around 59 people died and 103 were seriously injured in the subsequent stampede that took place after the fire.

• One of the worst cases of human stampede took place at the scenic fort of Mehrangarh at Jodhpur. Around 249 people were killed and 400 were injured when the pilgrims went to visit the temple dedicated to goddess Chamunda Devi on the first day of Navratri. The stampede occurred due to the supposed collapse of a wall.

• Another incident that took place in the same year was the stampede at the famous hilltop temple of Naina Devi in Himachal Pradesh. The incident claimed the life of around 145 devotees and left around 230 injured. Rumors of landslide triggered the stampede and around 5000 people started running down the temple.

• A recent stampede on March 6, 2010 took the life of nearly 60 people and left 25 injured at the Ram Janaki temple at Uttar Pradesh which is managed by Jagadguru Kripaluji Maharaj. The incident took place when all the devotees were gathered in the temple for ritual, feast and free distribution of clothes.

Human or man made disasters generally occur due to lack of awareness, lack of sensitivity, mismanagement and ignorance towards safety measures. There are many such incidents that take place at the Kumbh Mela, at busy railway stations and bus stands, at cinema halls, at sport events and other public places.

But actually why do such events take place and what is the need to manage crowd?

Firstly, because people in the crowd tend to follow or run other people due to some kind of rumor without giving any second thought.

Secondly, individuals within the crowd also take it for granted that it is other’s responsibility to manage any inconvenience.

Thirdly, big gatherings make actions slower and more complicated

And lastly, huge crowd in small and closed places make communication slower and movement complicated.

Huge crowd is always a source of accidents. There is a need for effective planning mechanisms in order to deal with such events. The innocent lives of many can be saved through proper crowd management. Crowd control i.e. controlling the crowd to prevent any type of disorder or prevention of possible riots is also important. In such situations it is also important to keep the crowd calm and under control.

India is a nation with around 1.1 billion population and religion is the heart and soul of Indians. There are number of holy places where people go in large numbers especially during special occasions or festivals.

In such times there are mammoth sized gatherings, it is required for the police and local administration to access and anticipate the approximate number of people visiting and make proper arrangements. The police, administration and organizers are needed to work out on all the details about the event, number of people, the space available, proper entry and exit arrangements, emergency exit, volunteers for guiding the crowd, fire extinguishers and also keep medical aid at hand. There should also be arrangements for food, water and shed in case of raining and snowy terrain.

There are chances of mishaps due to lack in proper arrangements and loop holes in the management. The administration should see that if the organizers have failed to comply with the set standards and safety measures then they should cancel the event.

Poor and needy generally flock at places where free meals and clothes are distributed. They are poor and voiceless people, but they do have a right to live and die respectfully. Therefore no amount of compensation or no number of pity words can solve the problem.

Thus its time that everyone realizes the amount of responsibility and start working over it sincerely.