Question : STAMPEDE CASES

(a) the total number of incidents of stampede reported in the country including those that occurred at religious places along with the number of persons killed/injured and damage to property separately, during each of the last three years and the current year, gender and State- wise;

(b) the number of officials held responsible in such incidents along with the action taken by the Government against them during the said period, State-wise;

(c) whether the Government has conducted any inquiry in this regard;

(d) if so, the details and outcome thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(e) the corrective steps taken/being taken by the Government to check such incidents in future and provide training to police personnel on crowd management in the country along with the advisories issued to the State Governments and police departments in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI HARIBHAI PARATHIBHAI CHAUDHARY)

(a): Based on the information available, the details of incidents of stampede during the last three years are provided at Annexure.

(b) to (d): As per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India Law and Order is a State subject. The State Governments concerned are primarily responsible for maintenance of law and order. They are required to conduct inquiry into such incidents and take appropriate action against the officials responsible for lapses in security arrange- ment.

(e): A detailed advisory was issued to all States/UTs on 1.10.2008 emphasizing the need to manage large gatherings and suggesting measures such as allowing manageable number of persons to visit the temples/shrines at a particular time; proper access control procedure/ system at every entry/exit point; establishing sound alert system; regular training of staff in evaluation procedures’ etc. to avoid recurrence of incidents of stampede in future. Further, on the basis of inputs received from security agencies, advisories are being issued from time to time by the central governments to states concerned.