Additional conditions for college fests in Kolkata

In the wake of singer KK's death after a stage performance in Kolkata, the city police has decided to impose additional conditions for college fests in closed auditoriums.

According to a senior Kolkata Police official, the first and primary condition is the arrangement of at least one ambulance along with a qualified doctor at the auditorium premises, so that in case of any emergency, a person can be rushed to a nearby hospital.

The second condition is the mandatory deployment of security personnel from registered private security agencies within and outside the auditorium.

"Often it is seen that the students' unions of colleges depute some volunteers from among their members for crowd management. Since these volunteers do not have basic training on crowd management, the situation can be chaotic and this can be avoided if trained security personnel can be deployed," the police official said.

The third condition is that the concerned students' union will have to give details of the artists hired for a particular function and the number of hands who will accompany them.

The fourth and final condition is event organisers will have to give a written declaration on whether there will be free or paid passes to enter.

The organisers will have to provide information on the number of the passes they will issue, so that the police can tally the number with the seating capacity of the auditorium concerned.

The police might also ask for the counterfoil of the passes issued along with the pass numbers on a random case to base basis.

The official said that they will especially emphasise on the fourth point to avoid overcrowding.

"In case of the unfortunate event at Nazrul Manch, it is now clear the crowd over double the capacity entered the auditorium that evening which made the air-conditioning machines inactive and this caused suffocation. So, in future over-crowding has to be stopped at any cost."

On Tuesday after completing his stage performance at Nazrul Manch in south Kolkata, KK returned to his hotel in central Kolkata.

After returning to the hotel, he vomited and became seriously sick. He was immediately rushed to a local hospital where he was declared as "brought dead".