Kolkata pandal stampede: what the NDMA crowd guide asks, step by step

By Prakhar Shahi

Published

Flow chart of the Chorbagan pandal crush: rain, one exit, collapse warning, surge that killed 19, and 7 arrests

India's 2014 crowd guide asks for a written plan, police and fire approvals and ample, unobstructed exits. Chorbagan had one way in and one way out. We set each step against what police, organisers and the state have said, and against three editorials.

Original report · Explained

What do India's crowd-management rules ask of a Durga Puja pandal? The National Disaster Management Authority's 2014 guide, Managing Crowd at Events and Venues of Mass Gathering, asks organisers to write a crowd plan, get police, fire, public works and electricity approvals, and keep ample entrances and exits unobstructed (NDMA, 2014). On the evening of 17 October 2026, the Chorbagan Sarbojanin pandal in Kolkata's Girish Park had one entry and one exit onto narrow lanes when a crush killed 19 people and injured 25, Dainik Jagran and Outlook India reported (Dainik Jagran, 2026; Outlook India, 2026).

We read the 95-page guide and set its steps against what police, organisers and the state have said since. Three editorials, in The Hindu, Hindustan Times and Deccan Herald, call the failures foreseeable; the guide shows which steps they mean. For the arrests and the inquiry, see our live report, Kolkata pandal stampede: High Court rules out sitting judge to head probe.

The night, in five steps

Every step below is what police, the Chief Minister or a named outlet has reported; none has been tested in court.

The guide was written for exactly this sequence.

The guide's first rule is ample, unobstructed exits

NDMA's guide splits crowd control into three jobs: control the inflow, regulate the crowd at the venue, and control the outflow (section 3.2.4). Section 3.2.4.5 asks for "ample entrances and exits (including administrative/ emergency route)" that "remain unobstructed".

It also explains why crowds turn dangerous. Section 3.2.3 says crowd force builds from three things: information (false or real), space and time. On our reading, all three were present at Chorbagan: a collapse warning, a single exit onto narrow lanes, and rain that pushed people in at once.

The guide also says who should have seen that coming.

The guide puts the plan on organisers and the checks on police

Under Appendix 3.1, organisers write the crowd plan and get approvals from police, fire, public works and electricity departments; police regulate the crowd and traffic; the district disaster management authority makes sure plans are approved (NDMA, 2014).

What has been said so far points to gaps on both sides:

We have not seen the pandal's permission file, so we cannot say which approvals it held.

Announcements, VIP gates, stalls and the structure

Section 3.5.1 asks for a public-address system to give the crowd clear messages, CCTV by sector, emergency exits that are never barricaded, and refusing VIP entry where it adds risk. It says stalls should sit on one side only, with gaps of 3-4 metres.

At Chorbagan, the one announcement on record is the collapse warning. Deccan Herald says a VIP gate may have cut the space, and asks why shops stood in a narrow lane (Deccan Herald, 2026).

Section 3.5.2 asks for a structure's load capacity to be set with a factor of safety and certified by qualified people. The bamboo-structure builder is among those arrested; who, if anyone, certified the pandal has not been reported.

What it means for pandal-goers and organisers

The scale is large: the Chief Minister put this year's pandals at more than 57,000 statewide, up 25% on 2025, The Hindu reported, and Outlook India counts about 3,500 in Kolkata. NCRB data cited by Deccan Herald records 3,935 stampede incidents from 1996 to 2022.

Since the crush, Kolkata Police have issued an 11-point crowd directive, nine IPS officers were recalled to Kolkata Police until 20 October, and the state set up a high-level pandal-safety committee, Asianet Newsable and The Quint reported.

For visitors, the guide's checklist is a practical test of a crowded venue: more than one way out, exits kept clear, and announcements that guide rather than alarm. For exam aspirants, its information-space-time model is the core idea.

What the editorials argue

All three papers agree on narrow exits, the rain and thin policing. They differ on why.

None of the three reads the NDMA guide clause by clause, or says that it gives the plan to organisers and the checks to police and the district authority.

The other side

The seven arrested are accused, not convicted; their lawyers say they were visitors who helped rescue people. The Chief Minister has said police helped get victims to hospital. Whether the NDMA guide binds West Bengal's pujas is not settled in anything we have read: it is guidance, and the state's own permission conditions were not in the documents we could open.

What happens next

Police custody of the seven ends on 28 October, Asianet Newsable reported. On 20 October the Calcutta High Court said a sitting judge cannot head the inquiry, and the state is to appoint a commission led by a retired judge, National Herald reported (National Herald, 2026). No date has been set.

Questions people are asking

What do NDMA crowd rules ask of puja organisers?

A written crowd plan, approvals from police, fire, public works and electricity departments, ample unobstructed exits and a certified structure load check (NDMA, 2014).

Who is responsible for the Kolkata pandal stampede?

That is not decided. Seven people are arrested and in custody to 28 October; their lawyers dispute their roles.

Were crowd-management rules broken at Chorbagan?

Police say this "will be checked", The Quint reported. The pandal had one entry and one exit, while the NDMA guide asks for ample, unobstructed exits.

Is the NDMA crowd guide binding on pujas?

Not settled in what we read. It is a national guide; the state's puja permission conditions were not public in the documents we found.

More on this story

References

How we did this

We read the full 95-page NDMA guide on managing crowds (2014), using the copy hosted by Goa's disaster management authority, and matched its sections to the sequence reported by Dainik Jagran, Outlook India, The Quint and ANI between 17 and 20 October 2026. We opened the three editorials published on 19 and 20 October in full, summarised them in our own words, and quoted at most once from each. The link between the guide's information-space-time model and the night's events is our reading. We did not find West Bengal's puja permission conditions or the pandal's file. The suggested hero is ETV Bharat's photo of the pandal interior, credited to the outlet, with our flow chart of the night as the fallback.

This story was produced, reviewed, edited and verified by the reporter before publication, with AI assistance where required.

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