Same North Stand tune

Overcrowding of the North Stand, as a result of scalping, corruption by some of the ticket collectors and persons selling parts of tickets for the initial Panorama show and general lapses in security, is almost as old as Panorama itself. In the old days it was the preliminaries. Today it is the semifinals. onetheless, whatever the name of the first major Panorama event, every year the North Stand is overcrowded because of corrupt and/or indifferent practices and every year, religiously, one of the principals blames the other. On Sunday, officials fearing a repeat of 1980, when the North Stand which had far exceeded its capacity swayed dangerously from side to side and had appeared on the verge of collapsing, blocked further entry at the gates by patrons, many of them holding genuine tickets.

They reconsidered when genuine ticket holders and others who had purchased ticket stubs which had been sold to them illegally protested and there were fears of the situation becoming unmanageable. What is disturbing is that security measures which had been put in place following on the 1980 near disaster, that of stamping the hands of patrons on entry and so preventing the use of illegally sold stubs, clearly had not been instituted on Sunday. Its being implemented would have been a way of determining whether or not persons with stubs seeking entry had been in the North Stand previously and had gone outside of the compound for whatever the reason. It was a simple, uncomplicated security strategy yet it was not in effect.

The lapse meant that, not only the organisers lost thousands of dollars, but that the safety of many patrons, including His Excellency Professor George Maxwell Richards  and thousands of others had been placed in jeopardy. It was wholly inexcusable. Had a section of the North Stand collapsed many persons could have been seriously injured and some even killed causing grief to many families. Had either the President or his wife been injured and/or scores of other patrons, then some of the international print and electronic media would have pounced on what to their representatives would have been an excellent negative story, hurting not only the image of our Carnival but that of this country as a place to visit. Carnival is fun, but not taking elementary precautions at venues where thousands are expected to congregate and/or to view organised shows is not.

The Ministry of Community Development and Culture, along with the National Carnival Commission, Pan Trinbago and the relevant agencies have enough time between now and Carnival to put into effect measures which would discourage overcrowding at their shows. Any such anti-overcrowding strategies should be aimed not only at preventing admission of persons who have illegally secured ticket stubs, but of the securing of all entry points to stands against individuals, who seek to slip in with some vendors or as music and/or costumed bands are crossing the stage. As an earlier generation would often say: It is better to be safe than sorry. And while we are on the subject why do we spend money year after year to construct the North Stand, only to break it down after Carnival? Is it beyond our ability to build something permanent?