Editorial: Mansa Devi Temple Stampede Was Foretold

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Top Officials Must Be Held Accountable for Deaths of Devotees

Eight people lost their lives in a stampede at Mansa Devi Temple in Haridwar on Sunday. Dozens more were injured. This tragic incident is not just a mishap—it is a gross breach of public trust. The district administration must be held accountable for the lapses that led to this avoidable tragedy.

So far in 2025, over 70 people in India have died in stampedes, many of them at religious sites. Devotees, with prayers on their lips, find themselves engulfed in swelling crowds within narrow lanes leading to temples. They are often left to the mercy of God—not just for blessings, but for survival.

As India aspires to become a developed nation by 2047, it gains international attention for tragedies that are entirely preventable. School children perish in collapsing classrooms. Passengers plunge into rivers after bridges collapse. People heading to board trains are trampled to death at overcrowded stations. Cricket fans in India’s so-called Silicon Valley die at stadiums lacking basic safety.

Deaths due to stampedes have become so commonplace that they barely command front-page attention. A customary announcement of compensation follows, and public interest fades—until the next incident repeats the horror.

What makes it worse is that stampedes occur at locations that collect billions of rupees—temples, stadiums, and transport hubs. Yet, not a single government think tank, including Niti Aayog, has seriously drafted a national policy on preventing stampedes.

The blame game is institutionalized. Those accountable conveniently vanish into a “collective escape tube.” Temple administrations, often with minimal expertise in crowd control, manage large gatherings. Worse, they lease out precious space to vendors, funneling devotees through choke points.

District administrators show up only after the tragedy strikes. Politicians follow soon after to offer token sympathy and TV bytes.

This cycle must end.

To prevent the next stampede:

District administrators must be held accountable. Heads must roll.
No shops should be permitted within one kilometer of temple premises.
Crowd management must be the duty of the district administration—not temple trusts.
Predictive technology and simulation-based planning must be deployed.
A fixed percentage of all revenue collected at such locations must be mandated for public safety infrastructure.

Until these measures are institutionalized, more lives will be lost in stampedes—and the nation will continue to mourn with no lessons learned.

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