Lakhs of music lovers, from across colleges in NCR, flocked to Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT) recently, to witness the three-day cultural and tech fest, Moksha – Innovision in Dwarka. The reason being popular singers, Sunidhi Chauhan, King and Raftaar who were invited to perform here. Amid their high-energy acts the crowd turned chaotic, so much so that even the on-ground security arrangements fell short of what was required to manage the crowds.
Sunidhi ka swag!
While singing Chokra Jawan, Right Here Right Now and Aa Zara, Chauhan saw students being pushing near the front barricade, and said, “Make some way and let the girls dance with me!” She went on to dedicate the lines, “Tere liye hi toh signal tod taad ke, aayi Dilli waala boyfriend chhod chhaad ke”, to BCom (Prog) student Anurag Jain from Sri Aurobindo College, who later told us: “Her singing just for me has to be the highlight of my time spent at DU. This is going to be my flex forever!”
Pa-King NSUT to the ‘Raftaars’
For singer-rapper King’s act on day two, some audience members threw their T-shirts and marker pens on stage in hope of receiving his autograph. The 24-year-old belted out his hits such as OOPS, Legends, Tu Aake Dekhle and Sinner Crown, among others, and added, “Mai jahan bhi jaata hoon, log mujhe Dilli ka maan lete hain… Delhi mera sheher hai, main yahan apne logon ke beech hoon.”
Rapper Raftaar left the venue packed to the rafters. “Doston, main Rajouri (Garden) ka ladka hun. Toh sundar ladkiyon ke liye toh gaana niklega hi!” He announced the musician as he went on to sing The Humma Song, Bandook Meri Laila, Swag Mera Desi and other hits of his. But chaos wasn’t far away, as some students, reportedly in an inebriated state, began pushing and fighting each other to get to the front. Intervening, the rapper said, “Mere pyaare bhaiyon, peeche ladaayi mat karo.”
Skirmishes and stampede
Despite 264 male and female bouncers, a security team comprising 250 students, 150 guards of the varsity, and 100 police personnel, the situation got out of hands on all three days. Earlier, King’s performance being started earlier than planned, out of security concerns, didn’t help. “A lot of people who came later were left upset. Also, bottles were thrown, hitting people, and pushing and shoving went on,” said Samanjasya Bhutani, a first-year BA (Prog) student from Kirori Mal College.
Pranjal Dagar, final-year student of BTech and co-convenor of the fest, informs, “Due to the stampede, some students ended up at the hospital. Without giving in to the pressure, we implemented a proper procedure to allow access to campus-based verification of every student’s ID. Besides frisking, we even checked their registration on the app to ensure that nobody was trying to sneak unwantedly in the campus. This checking even caused some to get restless and push through.”
(With inputs from Aanya Ahlawat)
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