“There may have been some degree of overcrowding, but there was no situation where people were short of space or were sweating or had problems with (other) people,” he said.
He said that KK reached Nazrul Manch, his last venue at 6.22 pm and went to the stage at 7.05 pm.
“At no point were they crowded, we had enough police at the place,” he said.
Goel said that long before the singer’s arrival, there was a police system under an assistant commissioner.
He said that although controversy has arisen over how many people were at the venue, police have “clear video where you can see people standing and dancing comfortably.” Goyal categorically stated that there was no stampede like situation at any point of time and when viewed from different angles of the video shoot of the event, there was enough space to comfortably watch the performance of the crowd. He said the organisers, artists, musicians or the crowd present on the stage never told the police that something was wrong.
He said the exact number of attendees could not be ascertained as the numbers would have been different at different times. He said that there are about 2500 seats in Nazrul Manch and most of the crowd was standing in front of their seats. “We request that from now onwards a medical ambulance should be kept with a doctor and the hospital should be identified where people can be taken in case of emergency,” he said.
Goyal said that it should be ensured that tickets are not distributed more than the seating capacity of any venue.
“We are putting in place a mechanism to ensure this process goes through,” he said, adding that organizers would be requested to put up screens outside the grounds where additional crowds can watch the event.
Goyal said that the incident of extinguishing the fire took place outside the hall and at a distance of about 150 meters.
It is alleged that a fire extinguisher was used to disperse the crowd trying to forcibly enter the hall to attend KK’s performance.
“There was a small argument between some people who were trying to go on stage and that’s when I think someone used this fire extinguisher,” he said.
Goel said the police intervened and nothing serious happened. “They isolated the people and the situation was brought under control almost immediately,” he said. The Commissioner of Police said that the air-conditioning of the hall was functioning as per the knowledge of the officers running the hall, dismissing the allegations of some sections that it was not working properly.