9 hours Ago By Subhojyoti Kanjilal and Rohit Khanna
KOLKATA: Shukla Debnath was trampled underfoot before losing consciousness. A splash of water jolted her awake, and faint voices murmured around her -"Shayad mar gayi (maybe she's dead)". As she opened her eyes, a sadhu helped her to her feet.
The 37-year-old NGO worker from Bengal's Alipurduar had gone to Maha Kumbh for a solo pilgrimage. She checked into a tourist tent dormitory Monday. Next evening, she headed towards the ghat for the Mauni Amavasya Amrit Snan.
"I was near Sangam by 9pm. I took the dip around 1am and was returning to the camp..
. I could hear shrill cries at a distance and soon saw people around me falling down. I helped a woman and her child, but realised I couldn't handle the pressure and lost my balance.
It was a stampede," she said. With no immediate help, she spent the night under a tree and ate at a bhandara. "By Thursday morning, I was on my way to the railway station.
I just wanted to go home to my 65-year-old mother. I wanted to carry home memories, all I have now is a nightmare." Manoj Bhattacharya, a 49-year-old businessman from Kolkata, was shocked by the lack of crowd control.
"When we drew near the approach way to the ghats, we found arrow markers guiding the devotees. We were surprised to notice there was no barricade or drop gate segregating the crowd," he said. "We organise one of the largest Durga pujas in Kolkata, and we have better crowd management.
For such a large crowd, there should always be separate entry and exit points. There was nothing like that at the mela grounds.".
