India's Kumbh Mela chief quits over stampede tragedy

The chief organiser of India's massive Kumbh Mela festival quit Monday after a stampede killed 36 people as the emergency services came under fire for their handling of the tragedy. Dozens more were injured in the crush at a train station on Sunday evening at Allahabad, marking a tragic end to the most auspicious day of the 55-day Hindu festival in the state of Uttar Pradesh which had drawn some 30 million people. Local officials said the railings on a bridge at the station had given way under the pressure of the mass of people, while witnesses said police had baton-charged the crowd and triggered panic. After the state government ordered an investigation into the tragedy, one of the driving forces behind the festival said he was resigning as a matter of honour. "I have resigned as the chairman of the festival committee," said Mohammad Azam Khan, who is also a cabinet minister in the state. "Although the stampede happened beyond the scope of my jurisdiction, I am deeply disturbed and step down on moral grounds," he told AFP. The Kumbh Mela, which began last month and ends in March, takes place every 12 years in Allahabad while smaller events are held every three years in other locations around India. In 2003 45 people died in a stampede during the festival in the western town of Nasik. Crushes are a constant menace at religious events in India. The worst recent incident was in October 2008 when around 220 people died near a temple inside a famous fort in the northern city of Jodhpur. At the Kumbh Mela on Sunday 30,000 volunteers and 7,000 police were on duty, urging pilgrims to take one short bath and then leave the waters to make space for the flow of humanity that stretched for kilometres. The event has its origins in Hindu mythology, which describes how a few drops of the nectar of immortality fell on the four places that host the festival - Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.