Free public events, especially cricket ones, should be ticketed: Mumbai cops

Indian Express

2 days ago

EVEN AS the Bangalore administration draws flak for the loss of lives during Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) IPL victory parade, officers with Mumbai Police that handled the Indian cricket team's victory parade after their 2024 T-20 World Cup win at Marine Drive last year, said that while they were well-prepared, 'once a large crowd gathers, none of the preventive measures prove effective'. The officer added that 'apart from our efforts, we have to thank the almighty that no untoward incident happened during the victory parade.'
The officer said that in a country like ours with such a high population, events that are open to all — especially around those like cricket events which is followed passionately — is not a good idea.
'There is a need for ticketing such events even if they are given free of cost. Even if you give one lakh passes, the authorities will know the approximate crowd to expect and those who don't get the passes will not come. Or else, holding such open-to-all events is inviting tragedies,' the official added.
The senior officer who did not wish to be identified told The Indian Express that while India defeated South Africa in the T-20 final on June 29 and the victory parade was held five days later on July 4, they were informed about the victory parade being held in south Mumbai only 24 hours prior to the event. It was meant to be free to the public and would start at NCPA with an open-air bus ferrying the cricket team and BCCI staff through Marine Drive and end over 1.5kms away at Wankhede stadium where an event would be held to honour the cricket team.
An officer said that as soon as they were informed about the victory parade, a meeting was held that included senior police officers, Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) officials and BMC officials to prepare for the next day.
'Through the night, barricades were set up along the way so that crowds wouldn't gather on the roads and videos were prepared and posted on social media platforms by officials giving people instructions on safety measures to be followed,' the officer said.
The Mumbai police team had a few precedents to look back to in the form of the victory parades that followed the 2007 T-20 world cup victory and the 2011 ODI world cup victory.
'While the 2007 victory parade was from the airport to Wankhede stadium spread over 35 kms which meant crowding did not take place in one particular area, the 2011 victory parade had less crowds as compared to the 2024 parade – something we would find out the next day,' an officer said.
While the parade was to take place in the evening, crowds had started pouring in from 3pm. 'While we expected there would be larger crowds to see the open air bus in which the cricketers would travel, crowds coming from Churchgate station kept swelling at Wankhede stadium. At one point, when there were over 40,000 people at the ground which has a capacity of 30,000, we shut the doors,' the officer said.
The officer said that while it usually takes nearly two hours for people to completely fill up the stadium, that day it was full within 40 minutes. 'At first we thought we would lightly frisky those entering the stadium, eventually with the pace at which the crowd was coming, we gave up on the idea,' the officer added.
The cricket team had left from the airport and were headed to NCPA in a bus. They however got delayed by over two hours, massive crowds had gathered at Marine Drive during this time. 'Within some time we realised that none of the precautions we had taken were working to face the massive crowds. The barricades had been taken off and the crowd was jostling for space,' an officer said. As per police estimates, a crowd of over three lakh alone had assembled at Marine Drive and 50,000 sitting at the Wankhede stadium.
'The crowd was not following any of the instructions like not coming in their vehicles. Nearly eight to ten cars, that were headed to the south bound stretch of Marine Drive, were stuck in crowds around 3.30pm and the owners could only take them at around 11pm,' the officer said. What came in handy was the use of a public announcement system, which maintained some semblance of order, an officer said.
The police team then managed to get the cricket team to NCPA and the victory parade began. 'Nearly 100 police personnel surrounded the bus and ensured it reached Wankhede stadium from NCPA amid the bulging crowds. Initially the cricketers atop the bus raised the trophy and spurred the crowds on. However, they too realised that the crowd had become too much and later started joining their hands, asking them to calm down so that nothing untoward took place,' another officer said.
The official said that due to the crowd density, soon people started complaining of breathlessness. 'Our policemen carried people complaining of breathlessness away from the spot to help them. I too went away from the crowd to catch my breath as I too was beginning to feel breathless,' the official added.
'At one point, we broke some of the locks put up at the gates of housing societies on Marine Drive so that the assembled crowd would get some extra space by entering them,' the official said.
'There was still a steady crowd headed from Churchgate station to Marine Drive. Even though we told them not to go ahead and inspite of seeing people complaining of breathlessness, they continued to march on. If the crowd would have suddenly stopped, it would have caused jams on the lanes near the station,' the official said.
Soon the railway police, who had been managing the crowd at Churchgate station, realised that a lot of people had gathered at the station. 'While the crowd kept coming in jam packed trains every few minutes, there was hardly any space left. At one point, doors of some crowded trains were shut and they were sent back as it would have led to a stampede type situation,' an official said.
Another official said, 'At several moments when the crowd was at its peak, we were worried that one small move could lead to an untoward incident. However, thanks to the almighty nothing of that sort happened and eventually the effort we had taken paid off.' The crowd was such that even if you lost your footwear, you could not bend down to pick it up. The next day BMC collected footwear from the spot in two trucks.