The Kolkata Chorbagan stampede killed 19 people during a Durga Puja crowd surge, with heavy rain, overlapping entry and exit flows, inadequate crowd control and a panic-inducing public announcement emerging as key factors under scrutiny. The incident took place at the Chorbagan puja pandal in central Kolkata on Saturday night, according to a report by Anandabazar.com.
Chief Minister Shubhendu Adhikari, who inspected the site and spoke about the incident at Bhabanibhaban on Sunday, said he believed the deaths did not occur inside the main pandal itself. He said the casualty count could have been higher if the crushing had taken place within the structure. According to the report, the chief minister indicated that visitors entering and leaving the venue were using the same route, divided only by ropes.
Adhikari said temporary civic volunteers responsible for holding the ropes left them during the rain. This allowed incoming and outgoing visitors to merge, creating a dangerous movement of people around the venue. The chief minister’s account points to a breakdown in the separation of pedestrian flows, a basic requirement for managing a crowded public event.
Witnesses cited in the report said heavy rain led many people to remain inside the pandal instead of leaving. At the same time, visitors waiting to enter also moved into the structure to take shelter. Local residents alleged that there were not enough security personnel to manage the growing crowd, which quickly became compressed and difficult to control.
Residents also referred to a microphone announcement instructing organisers to open the exit gate and asking visitors to leave because the pandal had become unsafe. The announcement reportedly warned people not to approach the venue. Anandabazar.com said a video of the announcement was circulating on social media, but that it had not independently verified the video. The identity of the person who made the announcement remained unclear at the time of the report.
The report said the public prosecutor referred to the announcement when seven people arrested in connection with the incident were produced in court. Local residents also alleged that police were absent during the rescue operation. The chief minister rejected that allegation, saying two injured people had told him that police arranged app-based taxis to take them to hospital.
Questions have also been raised about the physical design and approvals for the venue. A former general secretary of the puja committee, Jayanta Bandyopadhyay, said earlier crowd-control arrangements had included longer entry routes, rope barriers and separate routes for people leaving the pandal. He alleged that those precautions were not followed this year. He also criticised the use of a circular structure and an elevated walkway in a confined location.
The theme artist, Sushanta Pal, rejected the allegations about structural safety. He said the pandal had been built in accordance with safety rules and that separate entry, exit and emergency doors had been provided in line with court directions. Questions have nevertheless emerged within the Kolkata Police about how the venue received clearances from the police and fire services, particularly given the narrow surrounding roads and the iron-grilled elevated walkway.
The incident has also triggered questions inside the police force about preparedness. Police officers cited in the report said Chorbagan had experienced dangerous crowding in earlier years, including in 2018 and 2022. In 2018, police reportedly altered the entry route, introduced holding points and kept entering and exiting visitors apart. A former office-bearer also recalled the death of an elderly man who suffered a cardiac arrest while waiting in a queue in 2022.
Following the incident, the chief minister assigned two experienced IPS officers to inspect puja venues independently and ordered the temporary return of nine officers with experience in managing Kolkata’s festival crowds. The officer-in-charge of the Girish Park police station also faced action, while the chief minister visited the Lalbazar control room. The authorities’ next steps will determine how responsibility for the crowd-management failure and venue approvals is established.
