Hyderabad: A potential stampede situation was averted during the flash celebrations in Hyderabad late on Tuesday night over Royal Challengers Bangalore’s victory in the Indian Premier League, city police said on Wednesday.
Thousands of people came out on the streets late on Tuesday night, leading to traffic jams.
Following the stampede during RCB’s victory celebrations in Bangalore, which claimed 11 lives and left several others injured, visuals of the celebrations in Hyderabad emerged on social media.
According to police, over 20,000 people gathered from Secretariat Road to IMAX circle, which led to a massive traffic jam. Ambulances were stuck, and the public faced inconvenience. However, the police responded swiftly and firmly, averted a potential stampede situation, and safeguarded many lives.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner C. V. Anand also took to X to share his concern over the way the fans suddenly came out on the roads for the celebrations.
“Watching and hearing about the stampede in Bangalore made me wonder where we are going ! This is not a national team winning the World Cup ! It’s a mere franchise called RCB which works on commercial lines and does not have a single Hyderabad player in it !? It’s not even a Hyderabad based team,” said the Commissioner, who himself is a former cricketer.
“The night round officers were totally taken by surprise at 12 in the midnight as hordes of youngsters and revellers descended on Tank bund, NTR Marg and Necklace road and behaved in an unruly manner, sample of which you can see in the videos below, quite alarmingly. Traffic got jammed in all directions. Seeing the situation and the hooliganism, extra forces were rushed and a lathi charge done to disperse the unruly crowd,” wrote Anand, who posted a couple of videos of the celebrations.
“From a police officer’s perspective, this unannounced celebrations on the streets by large gatherings are a big danger to public safety and may lead to exactly what we saw in Bengaluru. What if there were some deaths in Hyderabad too? Can anyone expect celebrations for RCB in Hyderabad city ! But with the social media playing a huge role across the country and the globe, perhaps police has to be alert for everyone and everything in future ! Is it humanely possible to do so – is what I am.”
(IANS)
