Worst Safety Culture at Overcrowded Religious Places Kill Thousands: Exploring Solutions

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Page: 239-244

Harbans Lal Kaila (SNDT Women’s University, Director – Forum of Behavioural Safety, Mumbai, Maharashtra)

People have lost their lives at almost every religious place due to overcrowding, lack of safety culture practices, and passive local leadership to safeguard the citizens who went there to pray. Safety culture management at worship places is a very serious issue which is commonly not addressed as a planned approach by the concerned authorities at all levels. The newspaper reports indicate incidents in which almost every worship place (like temples, mosques, gurudwara, & churches) killed hundreds of people each year due to a lack of safety culture in their premises as crowds pour heavily during religious festivals, and there is no discipline except for VIPs. Why do people die in India due to hunger if there are numerous Langars and Bhandaras in Gurudwara and Temples? Why do people die in accidents while going to worship places? What are the wrong things with religious institutions in India? There are newspaper reports from all worship places of all castes and religions across the country. Why are local authorities passive about devotees who visit for holy prayers losing their lives along with families? The sample for this research included interactions with 260 professionals across India. Religious organisations and leaders need to widen the focus of safety culture such as increasing awareness for visitors, maintaining engineering controls for entry and exit points, CCTV installations, safety professionals deployment, emergency response plans, collaboration with local authorities, limiting entry per day with authorised passes, restructuring worship places to prevent crowding situations, regular safety training for permanent/casual staff members, controlling fake unregistered people to help and cheat the devotees. This study offered a comprehensive discussion on the recommendations for the safety of religious institutions, devotees and organisers such as, the safety procedures for religious institutions, safety procedures that make economic sense for religious institutions, respecting religious freedom for minority groups, hi-tech security of religious places, preventive measures for the safety of worship places, politics’ impact on the psychological safety of places of worship, and religious leadership matters in the safety of worship places. The concerned Ministries and leaders must step in to prioritise the safety and cultural aspects of worship places. Medical care facilities at places of worship are a must for post-incident care of devotees. There are also several worship places with no such incidents.