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| Qutab Minar, Delhi Hindustan times |
Unexpected tragedies do occur in public places, but a few of them never fail to go away from our sensitive mind. What happened at the popular Qutab minar Victory tower of Delhi on the Friday morning of December 4, 1981 had sent a shock wave across the country in the aftermath of power failure and the consequent stampede resulting in deaths and chaos. Though the victory tower experienced some natural disasters way in the past never in its hallowed history had witnessed loss of lives. The Victory Tower became a Tower of tragedy.
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| Qutab Minar, Delhi tripsavvy.com |
Above image: The 12th century CE Qutab Minar of Delhi is the tallest brick minaret in the world with a height of 238 feet (equal to 20 story building) and a narrow spiraling stairway to reach higher levels. Considered as one of the most popular monuments in India, in 1993 Qutab Minar complex was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monument is a subject of controversy as it was built after defacing pre existing Hindu monuments. It reflects the end of Hindu dynasty and the beginning of Muslim rule in this part of India. The builder was Qutab-Ud-Din-Aibak, first Islamic ruler in India...........
On the sun-drenched December 4 Friday morning of 1981 when admission was free, unaware of their sealed fate 45 visitors including 30 school children visited the Qutab minar tower and tried to climb up. When they were inside the tower on the narrow spiral stairway, they were choked and trampled to death while tumbling down its spiral stairway. A power outage plunged the narrow spiral stairway into pitch darkness coupled by the false alarm of falling tower resulting in chaos, panic and ultimately stampede. As the tower was closed from outside, the narrow tower was almost like a mousetrap. Groping in the pitch dark, the trapped panic-stricken visitors began pushing themselves to get down the stairway.
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| Qutab Minar entry banned Geotraller |
The tragedy was struck not at the conical top of the tower, but near the first floor in a place where visitors were not allowed to enter. The stampede resulted in the death of 45 of which twenty-six of them were from a single village, Pali, in Faridabad district of Haryana. The school students were part of a group on an excursion trip to the Qutub complex, etc. The incident occurred between 11.30 a.m. and noon, in the peak hour during the winter months. Because of free admission on Fridays to the tower, normally the number of visitors would multiply 10 fold. At the time of the tragedy there were more than 350 visitors inside the tower. That how come the ASI (Archeological Survey of India) had allowed so many visitors at the same time and inside the tower is a moot question. A day later a pale of gloom descended on Pali town when 25 funeral pure was lit up in a row near the crematorium. The people were in bereavement and the entire small town looked deserted and forlorn over the loss of school children.
Later a one man enquiry committee that visited the site was told by the City administration that there was no such power shortage during that time. This statement added mystery to the cause of power. However, the Municipal corporation later did admit that the collision of a truck with an electric pole led to a power breakdown in the Katwaria Sarai area. But it said this happened two hours before the tragedy. Some of the visitors were of the opinion that the lights had been wantonly switched off by hoodlums who would have hanged around there. Since this tragedy, Qutab Minar has been closed to the public on the government order in view of safety concerns. Attempts were made to get the tower reopened by the government, but it was of no avail. As of December 2021 even 40 years after the tragic event the Qutab Minar Tower had not been opened to public. To the parents of countless children in that area and near by the Victory Tower is forbidden place.
Decades later this appalling tragedy that sniffed out the lives of 42 young people haunts the residents living by this tourist complex.
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/special-report/story/19811231-
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/december-6-forty-years-ago-qutub-tragedy-7657824/
