Mumbai: As 2 die in Ganapati tragedy, questions over crowd control, safety

• An eight-year-old girl and a woman were killed and four others injured after an apparent electrical short circuit at a temporary stall near a Ganapati pandal in Kalachowki early Sunday.

• Eyewitnesses and residents said heavy crowds and jostling near the pandal may have caused people to be pushed into the stall, where electric current was detected.

• Locals alleged inadequate police deployment and crowd management as thousands of devotees thronged Lalbaug and Kalachowki during the Ganapati festival.

An eight-year-old girl and a woman were killed and four others injured after an apparent electrical short circuit at a temporary stall near a Ganapati pandal in Mumbai’s Kalachowki area early on Sunday, 20 September, with eyewitnesses and residents saying overcrowding and jostling preceded the tragedy.

The incident occurred at around 2.20 am near the entrance of the Kalachowki Vibhag Sarvajanik Utsav Mandal’s ‘Mahaganapati’ pandal on Dattaram Lad Marg, as large crowds gathered in the area during the ongoing Ganesh festival.

Officials said electric current was detected at a temporary drinking water and cold drink stall erected near the pandal entrance.

According to BMC officials, the incident took place at the temporary stall on a footpath next to the entry gate of the mandal’s ‘Mahaganapati’ pandal in the narrow lanes of Kalachowki. The stall had three refrigerators and stocks of mineral water bottles, with branding of a popular cold drink company.

Locals attributed the incident to severe overcrowding and jostling in the area, while also alleging inadequate crowd management by the police.

Amardeep Gosavi, a former office-bearer of the mandal, told reporters that Dattaram Lad Marg had witnessed a massive crowd on Saturday night, estimating that 50,000 or more people were present in the area at the time. "There was neither adequate police personnel deployment on the road nor was there any crowd management," locals alleged.

According to residents, police generally install barricades at the junction of Dr Ambedkar Road and Dattaram Lad Marg around midnight on Saturdays during the Ganapati festival to regulate the flow of devotees heading towards Kalachowki and divert some of them towards Byculla.

At the time of the incident, however, there was a huge rush in the ‘mukh darshan’ queue, residents said. The pressure of the crowd allegedly caused some barricades to bend or break. With large numbers of devotees moving in both directions, the road became severely congested, particularly outside the Mahaganapati gate.

"Amid jostling of the crowd, some people were pushed towards the stall. Due to this, the iron beams of the stall broke and they might have come in contact with the electric current," an eyewitness said, adding that the incident unfolded within seconds.

Another eyewitness said mandal volunteers managing the queue also received electric shocks while trying to help those affected. "They used wooden sticks from banners to separate the injured person," he said.

Rohan Rane, a mandal activist who was inside the pandal when he learnt about the incident, said volunteers immediately rushed the injured to nearby hospitals. "First, we rushed them to the hospital, holding them in our arms and putting them in wheelchairs, making a way through the crowd. Later, we took them to hospitals on two-wheelers," Rane said.

The injured were initially taken to the adjoining Astha Nursing Home and later shifted to Masina and Global Hospital.

Lalbaug witnesses some of Mumbai’s largest crowds during the Ganapati festival, drawing devotees from across the city, its extended suburbs and other parts of the country. Residents said the crowds of pandal-hoppers typically swell on nights preceding weekends and holidays.

The area is particularly crowded around the iconic Lalbaugcha Raja pandal. The ‘Mukh Darshan’ queue allows devotees to view the idol from a distance, while devotees in the ‘Charan Sparsh’ queue are allowed to touch the idol’s feet.

According to residents, the Mukh Darshan queue of Lalbaugcha Raja emerges on the roads from Garam Khada Maidan in Lalbaug and stretches towards Byculla through Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marg, Dattaram Lad Marg and TB Karam Marg before joining Dr Ambedkar Road again.

The flow of devotees heading towards the Mukh Darshan queue from Lalbaug towards Kalachowki, along with people moving in the opposite direction, often creates severe congestion in the area, residents said.

The Mukh Darshan queue extends from the southern to the northern footpath of Dattaram Lad Marg, around 100-150 metres from the entrance gate of the Mahaganapati pandal where Sunday’s incident occurred.

Police officials estimated that lakhs of people could have been present in the Lalbaug area between Saturday midnight and the early hours of Sunday.

The incident has raised fresh questions about crowd and electrical safety arrangements around temporary stalls and pandals in one of Mumbai’s busiest festival zones, where huge numbers of devotees converge during the Ganapati celebrations.

With PTI inputs