A Durga Puja stampede near the exit on Bhuban Banerjee Lane in Kolkata resulted in 19 deaths, with victims and bodies rushed to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
Local residents reported a lack of adequate police presence and absent organisers, stepping in themselves to carry unconscious victims and arrange water and transport.
Junior doctors and critics alleged that the state-run hospital lacked proper trauma-care facilities, forcing referrals to private hospitals, while state health minister Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay dismissed the claims as baseless.