Kolkata: Sudden death of KK puts spotlight on stage-show warts

KOLKATA: When child psychologist Indira Roy, 50, walked into Nazrul Mancha on Tuesday, KK had just started humming ‘Tu Aashiqui hai’ and the crowd — three times the hall’s capacity — went berserk. As the show went on and he started belting one chartbuster after another, the ambience became so uncomfortable with over 7,000 people (in a hall that has a capacity of 2,480) packed inside, she struggled her way out of the stuffy auditorium along with many others even though they wished to stay back.
“The humid weather, along with overcrowding, made the auditorium claustrophobic and we decided to leave,” said Roy. It was not KK alone who was feeling uncomfortable, there were many others in the audience who complained of ‘suffocation’.
Kajari Biswas, a PG student at Calcutta University, was afraid to witness such a situation where the gates could have been crashed at any moment. “People outside were throwing something at the door. It was a fearful situation. Then the management decided to open the gates to accommodate the outside crowd so that they don’t break the doors. If they crashed inside, it would have been a stampede. It was an equally horrible situation inside after a sea of people entered the auditorium. There was hardly any ventilation and we were sweating profusely,” said Biswas.
Shyambazar Law College student Shrestha Chatterjee shared that she felt scared thinking what would happen if she felt ill and how she can get outside from such a situation. “People were sitting on the floor and on handles of chairs and it was difficult to stand. A railing somehow protected me from falling because I was holding on to it to keep my balance,” she said.
Many in the audience complained of ‘severe mismanagement’ in controlling the crowd and questioned allotment of passes. There have been thousands who entered without passes. “There was a scuffle between people with passes and those without and at last the doors were opened for all. It became overcrowded and the heat inside was unbearable. The organisers should have taken measures to ensure security and control the crowd,” feels Arka Debnath, MBA student at a private college. Allegations of selling passes on black have also surfaced as a student claimed that she was asked to pay Rs 1,500 for three passes.
KMDA officials went for an inspection at Nazrul mancha on Wednesday. "The auditorium has a seating capacity of about 2,480. The AC system was operating in its full capacity till the end of the programme. We cannot tell how many people had entered the auditorium but two of the entrance doors have been found broken," said a KMDA official.
Mayor Firhad Hakim said: “When an artist of KK’s stature performs in the city, it is difficult to contain the crowd. The AC was working perfectly. The ACs are meant for a 2,700 audience. If 7,000 people enter the stadium, how will the ACs perform? KMDA has suggested that Nazrul Mancha will not be rented to colleges but we haven’t decided anything yet.”
Pankaj Ghosh, unit president of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad at Sir Gurudas Mahavidyalaya, said, “The madness is normal. There were thousands who turned up to get a glimpse of KK and we tried our best to manage the crowd with bouncers and proper security measures. But it is still a mystery how so many people were inside the auditorium after so much effort.” Trinankur Bhattacharjee, TMCP state president, added that the organisers did their best to tackle the crowd.
Sir Gurudas Mahavidyalaya principal Monishankar Roy did not reply to multiple calls from TOI.
(With inputs from
Suman Chakraborti)