Kolkata: At 17, in the final stretch of teens, Tania Biswas, Barnali Haldar and Shreya Haldar wanted to explore the city on their own. Durga Puja, when Kolkata comes alive with pandal-hopping, street lights and delicacies, seemed the perfect time. But their first outing without their families ended in tragedy at Chorbagan.
Barnali died on the spot, but Tania was still breathing. Shreya saw tragedy unfold before her, tried to save her friends but couldn’t.
“This was the first time my daughter had gone pandal-hopping without me. Earlier, I would accompany her everywhere, even wait outside her tuition classes. But I thought she was growing up and should be allowed to enjoy herself,” said Babita Biswas, Tania’s mother.
Tania’s father, Biswajeet Biswas, blamed poor crowd management and the police’s lackadaisical attitude for his daughter’s death.
“There have been minor incidents in the past, but never any deaths. This has happened for the first time. We were told that police personnel were busy checking their phones instead of helping visitors trapped in the stampede,” said Biswajeet.
Thirteen of the 19 people killed in the Chorbagan pandal stampede were females, including teenagers and children. The tragedy unfolded Saturday evening at the popular Durga Puja pandal in North Kolkata, where a crowd surge in a narrow exit lane, coupled with heavy downpour, poor crowd management and an announcement by the organisers, resulted in fatal consequences. The deceased and more than two dozen injured were rushed to Calcutta Medical College (CMC).
The West Bengal government has announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh each for the families of the deceased, while the Prime Minister has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for each of the families.
The incident has put the spotlight on the BJP, which assumed power in West Bengal for the first time after ending TMC’s 15-year-rule. A day after the tragedy, a high-powered committee was formed to inspect prominent pandals across Kolkata likely to draw large crowds. The committee issued notices to three puja committees, Ballygunge Cultural, Chetla Agrani and Tridhara Sammilani, flagging presence of LPG cylinders, poor ventilation and inadequate lighting, which could pose safety risks and lead to crowding and chaos.
But none of the measures can turn back the clock, or put together lives shattered by the tragedy at Chorbagan.
‘She was still breathing’
Tania and Barnali had been childhood best friends. They went to the same school and tuition classes and often spent weekends at each other’s homes.
Barnali died on the spot after she fell on the ground at the exit gate and was trampled. But Tania was still breathing, although shallow. Her friend Shreya tried to revive her with CPR and chest compressions. Shreya also accompanied Tania to CMC, where she was rushed for treatment. But the families allege that a delay in medical attention proved fatal.
“Had doctors attended to her on time, my daughter would have been alive. Her friends say that she was still breathing,” Tania’s mother Babita told ThePrint.
It was a call from Shreya to Tania’s father Biswajeet that alerted the family to what had happened. What followed at the hospital has left the family traumatised, especially Tania’s mother.
Biswajeet, a car driver, was late to reach the spot. Tania’s mother Babita, meanwhile, was already at the hospital, walking along a row of bodies covered in white shrouds. One by one, she lifted the sheets to check if it was her daughter.
Each time she found it was someone else, she let out a sigh of relief, clinging to the hope that Tania was still alive.
“The police then called me and asked me to check the photographs of the deceased. That’s where I recognised my daughter. They then took me to another mortuary within the premises where my daughter was kept,” said Babita.
Now, at the Biswas’ under-construction family home, with bare cement walls and empty rooms, two photographs are kept on a table: one of Tania, and the other of Tania and Barnali together.
“I blame myself for letting my daughter go alone for the first time. Had I gone with her. I would have saved her,” said Babita, breaking into a wail. “The first time she went without me, she left me forever.”
‘Tried, but couldn’t save my friends’
Shreya barely speaks. She doesn’t eat. And has not slept a wink in the last three days. She keeps returning to the same sentence, breaking into tears each time. “I tried, but couldn’t save my friends.”
Shreya had also fallen on the ground during the stampede but she luckily stood up with the help of railings. Her nails were broken and her leg injured.
The first thing she did after getting up was look for her friends.
“My daughter told me that Barnali had died on the spot. Her cheek bones had broken and face was disfigured. But Tania was still breathing,” said Shreya’s mother. “My daughter told me that it was the theme of the pandal because of which the lights were low and the announcement that the pandal might collapse led to the chaos.”
Shreya’s mother has sent her to stay with relatives, away from the neighbourhood where she would go on evening walks with Tania and Barnali. The three friends spent time together there almost everyday. Now, the neighbourhood is filled with conversations about the stampede and the death of the two girls.
Shreya’s mother has also taken away her phone. She says that she keeps looking at their photos and videos they had recorded of their years together.
“My daughter is traumatised by the incident. We took her to the doctor for her injuries too. She has been limping since the stampede. The doctor also prescribed sleeping pills to help her sleep,” the mother said, her eyes filled with tears.
At the neighbourhood kiosk, conversations keep returning to how Shreya miraculously survived the stampede despite falling on the ground. Everyone is trying to make sense of the tragedy. Some call it Maa Durga’s calling. Others call it bad luck. They are finding their ways to make sense of a loss that has left the neighbourhood shaken.
The small hut at the end of a narrow lane, which leads to Barnali Halda’s house, is locked. Neighbours say the family has gone to immerse her ashes in the Ganga.
For Babita, it is her daughter’s phone that she keeps returning to. Before the stampede, Tania had recorded a video showing herself flashing a victory sign alongside her friends as they waded through the crowded pandal. Then, suddenly, the phone falls and the screen goes blank. All she could hear next, were noises.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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