The West Bengal government has set up a six-member special investigation team to examine the October 17 stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata that killed 19 people, with the inquiry expected to determine how crowd movement escalated into a fatal surge.
The SIT will be headed by retired Justice Anindita Roy Saraswati and will include state government officials and a representative of the National Disaster Response Force. The team has been directed to submit its findings and recommendations to the State government within three months of the order issued on October 21.
According to the government notification signed by Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal, the inquiry will establish the time, location and manner in which the initial crowd surge occurred. It will also examine weather conditions, including meteorological reports and rainfall or thunderstorm bulletins, and assess whether they affected the movement of visitors at the pandal.
The investigation will examine the physical arrangements at the venue, including passages, barricades, stairways, gates and emergency exits. The SIT will also assess whether the required permissions were obtained under applicable rules and whether the organisers had prepared adequate crowd-management and disaster-management plans.
The decision to appoint a retired judge followed a legal development concerning the proposed leadership of the inquiry. After the incident, the State government had indicated that a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court would head the investigation. On October 20, however, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge said that a sitting High Court judge could not be appointed to lead such an inquiry in view of a Supreme Court directive. The government subsequently named a retired judge to head the SIT.
The Chorbagan pandal had drawn large crowds during the Durga Puja season before the tragedy on the evening of October 17. Most of those who died were women and children. The incident has raised questions about the responsibility of the organisers and the role of the agencies responsible for crowd management at the venue.
Seven people, including organisers of the Durga Puja pandal, have been arrested, according to the report. The SIT does not include a member of the Kolkata Police, even as questions have been raised about the police role in managing crowds at the site. The inquiry’s examination of permissions, access routes and emergency planning is expected to establish how responsibilities were distributed between organisers, police and other agencies.
The government has announced compensation of ₹25 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased person. The Chief Minister has also met families of victims in New Barrackpore, New Town and Purba Bardhaman and handed over cheques to some of them. Twenty-five people injured in the stampede were shifted to private hospitals, with the government stating that the decision was taken to provide better treatment. The report said there were no deaths among those injured.
The SIT’s three-month deadline makes its findings the next formal milestone in determining whether shortcomings in crowd planning, physical access, emergency response or regulatory permissions contributed to the stampede.
