BENGALURU: A storm of giddy, overenthusiastic fans, poor planning by officials, bad stadium management, stretched police force, shortage of time, clueless event management and lack of communication between stakeholders resulted in the tragedy at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium.At the crack of dawn, RCB lit up social media with the big news: The champions were flying home with the trophy and would celebrate with a grand victory parade in the city. The announcement caught cops unawares as they had no communication about it. But it sent the already-electrified fanbase into overdrive.Then came the colossal collective failure: Police honchos failed to act swiftly and draw up crowd-control plans. Politicians turned the celebration into a photo-op frenzy, brushing aside warnings in their race to bask in reflected glory. Many brought their families to Vidhana Soudha to pose with the cricketers.“RCB gave the city a reason to celebrate. But cops and netas turned the joy into grief with their incompetence. It’s shameful that Bengaluru couldn’t manage a 1km victory parade,” said the grieving brother of one of the victims.Even senior bureaucrats admitted that the lives could have been saved with proper planning and coordination. “The RCB management did not consult us before announcing a victory parade. We would not have allowed it given the crazy celebrations that unfolded on the streets on Tuesday night after the victory. But the political bosses were in no mood to listen, they wanted us to go ahead with bandobast,” a policeman said.Till mid-afternoon, there was no clarity whether there was a parade and where the events would be held. Senior cops were informed around 2pm to be at the stadium and assembly. By which time, the crowds had already gathered.
