Aligarh Youth Recalls Horrific Scene of the Mahakumbh Stampede
By – Prakarsh Kastwar
In a heart-wrenching eyewitness account from the Mahakumbh tragedy, a young man from Aligarh described the terrifying stampede that occurred at the banks of the Ganga during the holy dip. He narrated how people trampled over those lying on the banks of the river as the crowd surged forward, leading to chaos and panic.
According to Harshit Varshney, a resident of Aligarh, the stampede occurred in the early hours of the morning as a massive crowd gathered for the auspicious bath at Sangam. Harshit, along with his friends, arrived at the scene around 9 p.m. on Tuesday night. As the evening progressed, the number of devotees increased rapidly, and the crowd pressure became overwhelming.
“At first, the crowd gathered slowly, but as time passed, it became increasingly difficult to stand still. We managed to convince a boatman to let us stay on his boat for the night, paying him 1,100 rupees. The boat already had other passengers when we arrived. By midnight, the pressure from the crowd at the banks had intensified,” Harshit explained.
The situation quickly turned disastrous when, around 1:30 a.m., a stampede broke out. As the people rushed toward the banks for their bath, those who were lying on the ground were trampled. The screams and cries of the helpless devotees filled the air. “People who were asleep on the banks didn’t stand a chance. The crowd trampled over them without warning. Many fell, and those who fell couldn’t get up,” Harshit recalled.
Despite the chaos, Harshit and his friends could only watch helplessly from the boat. “We could only witness the horror. There was nothing we could do,” he said.
By morning, the news of the incident spread quickly, and Harshit’s family began calling, worried about his safety. “When we confirmed that we were safe, they breathed a sigh of relief. We are now heading back to Aligarh,” he added.
The situation was no less chaotic for other families present at the scene. Several residents of Aligarh, including Jitu Gupta, Puneet Kumar, Piyush Agarwal, and Paras Gupta, reported that the crowd had grown so dense that it became impossible to control the situation. “It was terrifying. The crowd kept growing, and it was inevitable that some would get trapped,” they said.
Family Members in Despair as They Await News
Back in Aligarh, the families of the devotees who had gone to Prayagraj were desperately trying to get in touch with their loved ones. The constant flow of calls between Prayagraj and Aligarh revealed the extent of the anxiety.
Two large camps were set up in Prayagraj by Aligarh-based organizations – one by Dr. Annapurna Bharti and another by Purnanand Puri. These camps provided shelter and food for the devotees, and several people from Aligarh stayed there during the event. As the situation began to stabilize, people slowly started making their way back home.
Manish Agarwal, a resident of Railway Road Court of Ward, who returned with his family from Prayagraj, shared, “By Wednesday evening, the situation was gradually returning to normal. The people who were in the camps in Prayagraj started leaving slowly. The arrangements for their stay and meals were good in the camps.”
Government Forms Inquiry Committee
In the wake of this tragic incident, the government has constituted an inquiry committee to investigate the causes behind the stampede. The committee will be headed by three members, including former Aligarh Municipal Commissioner VK Singh, IAS officer VK Gupta, and Justice Harsh Kumar from the Allahabad High Court.
The government has promised swift action and resolution to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again in future events.