Union Home Minister Amit Shah cancelled his scheduled visits to several Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata after a stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin puja venue reportedly killed 19 people and injured many others.
Shah, who arrived in Kolkata on the night of Mahasaptami as part of a pre-planned programme, visited the Kalighat temple on Sunday morning. Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal BJP president Shamik Bhattacharya and other party leaders accompanied him during the temple visit, according to Sangbad Pratidin.
The stampede took place inside the Chorbagan puja pandal on the evening of Mahasaptami. The report said 19 people died after being trampled in the incident, while several others were injured. It did not provide further details on the circumstances that led to the crowd surge, the identities of the victims or the number of people admitted to hospitals.
Following news of the incident, Shah expressed his grief in a post on X and cancelled the public engagements that had been planned for the second day of Saptami. His schedule had included visits to several puja pandals across the city. The cancellation removed the planned public movement from an already disrupted festival schedule.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed grief over the incident. According to the report, the Prime Minister announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the family of each deceased person. The report did not specify whether additional compensation or assistance had been announced by the state government or local administration.
After offering prayers at Kalighat, Shah was expected to visit injured people in hospital and meet members of their families. The report said Adhikari was also expected to accompany him. No details were provided on the names of the hospitals, the number of injured people receiving treatment or the medical condition of those admitted.
The incident has brought crowd movement and safety inside temporary festival structures into immediate focus in Kolkata, where Durga Puja draws large numbers of visitors to neighbourhood pandals. The available report, however, does not establish the cause of the stampede or identify any administrative or organisational failure. Further official information would be required to determine how the incident occurred and what safety measures were in place.
Shah’s hospital visit and the government’s next communication on the deaths, injuries and relief measures were the immediate developments expected after the incident, according to the report.
