Question : STAMPEDE CASES

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

(b) the number of officials held responsible in such incidents along with the action taken by the Government against them;

(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;

(e) whether the Union Government has received complaints regarding denial of financial assistance to the victims of such incidents by the concerned State Government;

(f) if so, the details thereof along with the action taken by the Government on such complaints; and

(g) the other 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?

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

(a): Based on the information made available by the state governments and central agencies, 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 Law and Order is a State subject. The State Governments concerned are 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 arrangements.

(e): No, Madam.

(f): Does not arise.

(g): 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 people to visit the temples/shrines at a particular time; proper access control procedure/system at every entry/exit point; establishing sound alert systems; 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 the security agencies, advisories are being issued from time to time by the central government to states concerned.