The Kolkata Durga Puja stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin pandal killed 17 people and injured 25 others on Saturday evening, according to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, prompting a government-ordered investigation and financial assistance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased person and Rs 50,000 for every injured person. In a post on X, the prime minister described the stampede as “extremely distressing” and said the local administration was providing all possible assistance to those affected.
Adhikari said 24 of the injured were stable and one person was in critical condition. Citing preliminary information, he said a crowd surge followed an announcement by a member of the puja committee. He added that puja committee members and security agencies had been detained, celebrations at the venue had been suspended and a transparent investigation ordered.
The incident occurred at a community Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata during the festival period, when large crowds gather at temporary public installations across the city. The immediate circumstances surrounding the surge remained under investigation. Families of two victims told the newspaper that private security guards were responsible and that the commotion began while bamboo barricades were being erected.
The competing accounts have placed crowd control, barricade management and the division of responsibility between organisers, private security agencies and public authorities at the centre of the inquiry. The source report did not include the names of those detained or details of any charges filed against them.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said he had received news of “multiple casualties” at the Chorbagan pandal and had spoken with Adhikari. Shah postponed his programmes in Bengal scheduled for Sunday and said he would visit the hospital to meet the injured. He expressed condolences to the families of those who died and prayed for the recovery of the injured.
Former Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said she was deeply shocked by the stampede-like situation and wished the injured a speedy recovery. The Trinamool Congress alleged that Kolkata Police and ambulances were absent from the site during the incident, claiming that local residents and visitors rescued injured people and transported them to hospital in Ola and Uber vehicles. The party also criticised the BJP-led administration. These allegations were not independently established in the supplied report.
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee separately criticised the Kolkata Police, West Bengal Police and Adhikari in a post on X. The political reactions followed the state government’s announcement that an investigation would examine the circumstances of the crowd surge and the role of the puja committee and security agencies.
The next official steps are the hospital visit by Shah, the investigation ordered by the state government and the provision of compensation to the victims’ families and injured people. Further details about the inquiry, the detained individuals and the arrangements at the pandal are expected from the authorities.
