Sometimes a good idea hiding in plain sight comes at last to the fore and begins to receive due attention. Home Minister Amit Shah, exasperated no doubt at the endless stampede deaths and injuries that are giving India a bad name for callousness, has come up with a plan.

It applies to a host of situations, though he specifically mentioned temples. It could be used at political rallies, weddings, funerals, processions, railway stations, hordes going to hill stations, forts, or any other large moving or static gathering. It also applies to ecologically sensitive areas in the mountains, rivers, lakes, animal sanctuaries, and other tourist spots.

This is by way of a first national SOP (standard operating procedure) for crowd control and will prevent needless deaths and injuries if strictly implemented.

It will become the first design and template for excuse-proof structured crowd management. Of course, a lot of work needs to be done on it, particularly for ancient temples and temple towns, as well as traditional pilgrimages and melas. It applies to the crowds going to the Char Dhams in Uttarakhand, the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri, the Sabarimala in the South, Vaishno Devi and Amarnath in J&K. Huge congregations of the old and infirm such as at the Ganga Sagar in West Bengal, men women, children, sadhus, foreigners at the gargantuan Kumbh Melas held every four years, culminating in the Mahakumbh at........

© News18