After a smooth journey so far, the safety at college fests in Delhi University is again under scrutiny due to the recent reports of overcrowding and mismanagement at Sri Venkateswara College. On Wednesday, a huge crowd gathered outside the gates to attend the finale of the college’s annual cultural fest, Nexus’25 where singer Javed Ali was to perform live.
Fest or fiasco?
Scary visuals started circulating on social media as the crowd tried to enter the gates of the college, situated at South Campus. The Reels show endless queues of students stretching far beyond the college gate, with a sea of bodies pushing and shoving each other, thus creating a stampede-like situation. “This was no festival, but a catastrophe waiting to happen… total mismanagement! Hours before the event, the crowd stretched from the college to the nearby metro station and as we were told the gates, for the performance scheduled at 5pm, would close by 2pm,” says Digvijay Sulekh, a student of Motilal Nehru College.
Recounting the horrifying episode, Sulekh adds, “My friend nearly lost consciousness due to overcrowding. She was suffocated and there was no ambulance in the sight. When we asked for help, the college management just shrugged. If they had the registration data, then they sure knew how many students were coming so why didn’t they take measures prior? They could have closed registrations once the capacity was reached! Or if so many were expected to show up then they should’ve had better system in place to control access!”
Tryst turns into trauma
For many first-year students, this was meant to be their grand introduction to DU’s vibrant fest culture. Instead, it turned into a traumatic experience. “I was so excited for fest season but the experience has completely traumatised me,” says Muskan, a student of Indraprastha College For Women. “I honestly feared for my life! At first there were two lines for entry, but then they suddenly announced that boys had to form a separate line. How could they do that when the lines were already packed? It caused utter chaos… It seemed there was no planning or preparation from the management, and they seemed least concerned about the safety of all of us.”
Several students recounted the terrifying ordeal of seeing others collapse in the chaos. “I literally saw students fall down, and others almost stepped on them,” says Deepali Raut, a student of Shyam Lal College, adding, “There was a police PCR van present, but proved clearly insufficient to control the crowd or offer assistance. For hours, students who had emergencies or simply wanted to leave were trapped inside because the there was no way to exit and the situation induced panic.”
Principal: If there is masala there are Reels
When asked about the mismanagement faced by students at the fest, college principal Vajala Ravi told us, “If there is masala there are Reels around it on social media to sensationalise. Yes, for a moment, when the performer’s car was entering from the gate, there might have been a slight scuffle given the crowd at the gates which could have caused minor bruises to some. But, that was it. No other severity or harm was caused to any of the students present. The Delhi Police was with us all through the fest and provided us full security. To prevent last minute crowding, we put out a notice that the gates will be closed by 2pm. But we were opening and closing the gates to regulate… Our intent was never to leave anyone outside but was to safeguard everybody both in the campus and outside the campus. In all earlier editions, the festival was confined to our college students only. But this time on a trial basis, we opened it for outsiders too. Whenever such an event happens, we want to ensure the safety of the students and those attending. The movement inside the college understandably got a little slow because we were frisking everyone and that caused a brief buildup so we had to stop portions of the crowd at the gates and close the gates intermittently. Eventually, all the gates were opened and each and every person was let in. We were well aware of the likelihood of the event being cancelled if the crowds were not managed properly given we had taken cues from fest of GGSIPU also being recently cancelled.”
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