Mumbai Police Say Charging for Tickets and Passes Helps Manage Crowds at Public Events Amid Bengaluru Stampede

The Bengaluru stampede, which has created comparisons between the state police and the state government, has also pointed fingers at the crowd management system. As many as 11 people were killed and more than 40 were injured in the stampede during the facilitation event, which was held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) following their IPL victory after 18 years of drought. Mumbai Police officers who have handled the Indian cricket team's victory parade after their T-20 World cup win at Marine Drive. 

The Mumbai Police officers said that they were already 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.”

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Conducting free events, especially cricket events, is not a good idea due to the high population. The police officer said the event should be ticketed or given paid passes so that the authority can calculate the approximate crowd to expect, and those who don’t get the passes will not come.

An officer told The Indian Express that after India's T-20 World Cup win on June 29 and the victory parade, which was organised five days later on July 4, they were informed that the parade would be held in south Mumbai 24 hours prior to the event. 

The Indian Cricket Team parade was free and would start at NCPA with open 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.