Bhaskar Dubey, Lucknow, Amrit Vichar: Keeping in mind the accidents that happened in past religious events including Kumbh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has added a new chapter in the history of crowd management by making a foolproof plan. The result of this is that 4 crore devotees took bath on the first Shahi (Amrit) Snan on 13-14 January and returned to their homes safely.
If you want to see the Mahakumbh of management, then come to Tirtharaj Prayag.. Here along with the Mahakumbh of faith, the world’s largest ‘Live Pathshala’ of management covering various courses of management is run. In which there is an opportunity to study managerial expertise on many subjects including crowd management, service, security, cleanliness, tourism, media etc. That is why IIM Lucknow, Indore, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru have been formed to study the social, economic and cultural impacts of the convergence of more than 45 crore people in a small area as well as the impact on the local economy, employment and urban infrastructure. Teams are working on special research projects.
In this sequence, Uttar Pradesh. Government chief Yogi Adityanath has written a letter to the National Police Academy recommending sending new IPS officers to learn crowd management at the Mahakumbh. He is of the opinion that the police and administration officials of the state as well as the country, especially the youth, should come from all over the country and participate in the biggest event of crowd management and learn the tricks of management. Along with this, young officers of the state have also been deployed on duty for 15 days each, so that they can also gain practical experience.
Let it be known that the peaceful operation of Mahakumbh, spread over four thousand hectares, divided into 25 sectors, with bathing ghats extending up to 12 kilometers, is an excellent example of best management. The benefit of increasing the efficiency of the officers who learn managerial tricks from here will help in the peaceful and well-organized conduct of various events in the country. Like Prayagraj, Kumbh is to be organized in Nashik in 2027, Ujjain in 2028 and Haridwar in 2033. That is why the officials here are also studying Prayagraj Mahakumbh. There is a huge crowd of devotees in the Sabarimala temple of Karnataka. Similarly, in Rajasthan, a large number of devotees come to Pushkar fair and Karni Mata temple for darshan and worship. Wherever religious events are held and there is crowd pressure, teams from those states have also come here to study in the Mahakumbh.
Prestigious universities and institutes of the country and the world are also conducting in-depth study and research on various aspects of Maha Kumbh such as management of Maha Kumbh event, socio-economic impact, environmental challenges, tourism, health management and use of digital technology. These include institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AIIMS, IIM Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, IIT Kanpur and Ahmedabad, JNU, DU and Lucknow University.
Why is the study of crowd management important?
India, with its tradition of large-scale religious festivals, has tragically become the epicenter of crowd-related disasters. Nearly 70 percent of fatal crowd disasters in India have occurred during religious mass gatherings. Last week, on January 8, six people died in a stampede at a temple in South India. Similarly, last year 121 people died in Hathras. Kumbh Mela also remained untouched by this. The 1954 Kumbh Mela is one of the deadliest crowd disasters in history, with at least 400 people killed in a single day. In 2003, 39 people were killed in a stampede at the Nashik Kumbh Mela. In 2010, 7 people were killed in the Haridwar Kumbh Mela. In 2013, 36 people were killed in the Prayagraj Kumbh Mela. Reports of accidents caused by crowds during the event date back to 1820, indicating that the challenge is not new.
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