Jalandhar railway station witnessed chaotic scenes on October 22 as thousands of passengers rushed to catch overcrowded Bihar-bound trains preceding the upcoming Chhath Puja.
Social media is filled with videos where one can see people pushing open moving train doors, climbing onto packed coaches, and even jumping in through windows, while the police struggle to manage the rush despite a heavy presence. There are several videos surfacing on X; here’s one such video that captured the chaos.
Festival travel strains railway infrastructure
Chhath Puja, a four-day Hindu festival, will be celebrated between October 25 and 28 this year. Millions of migrant workers return to their hometowns in Bihar, Jharkhand, and parts of Uttar Pradesh. Punjab, Delhi, and Maharashtra witness huge drains of labourers trying to spend time with their families. Despite the Indian Railways deploying more than 5,000 special trains and installing control 'war rooms' at key stations, demand outpaced capacity, causing overcrowding and precarious moments at stations.
Systemic gaps exposed by annual migration
The Free Press Journal reports that experts note festival travel showcases long-existing gaps in India's rail network. The 2011 Census logged more than 12 million inter-state migrants in Uttar Pradesh alone, and the number is likely to be even larger now. In peak season, migration increases to more than 15 million individuals, tending to swamp on-ground arrangements even with prior planning.
Following the Jalandhar station video going viral, citizens online argued the reasons behind the mayhem. A segment blamed a lack of railway enforcement, while others criticised civic indiscipline. Police officials were spotted attempting to hold back the crowd, but the severity of the crush obviously outsmarted current measures.
