A woman who fell unconscious in the melee.

Chaos reigned at two places in north Bengal on Monday as thousands queued up for Aadhaar enrolment or rectification in the cards driven by panic over the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

The department of posts had announced that tokens would be issued for Aadhaar registration and rectification.

Over 7,000 people from various parts of the Malda district started queuing up near the head post office in Malda town much before sunrise on Tuesday.

The scene was no different in Malbazar where a similar announcement was made and people were asked to collect tokens for their Aadhaar-related works.

“We decided to offer tokens considering the trouble people take every day to stand in a queue but cannot get their work done as 25 to 30 applicants can be attended to daily. However, it was beyond our imagination that thousands of people would come for the tokens,” said a senior official of Malda head post office.

Initially, a few police personnel had been deployed to maintain the crowd. But as the crowd surged, jostling started and the fear of stampede increased, the inspector-in-charge of Englishbazar police station, Amalendu Biswas, rushed to the head post office with reinforcements.

Superintendent of post offices in Malda, Amal Krishna Ghosh, also arrived to assure those in the queue that each of them would be given tokens even after normal working hours. However, the crowd grew impatient and tried to barge into the post office. They even tried to break the gates that the police had shut by then.

“Anything could have happened. A mere rumour could have led to the death of some people as a stampede seemed imminent,” said an employee of the post office, who had to struggle to get into the post office skirting past the serpentine queue.

Mohammed Akadullah, who came from Sujapur at 3am to stand in the queue, said: “There is panic over the NRC and the CAA. If we do not get our particulars corrected, we might lose our citizenship anytime. So, it is better to spend the night in the queue than sleep at home.”

Forida Bibi, who came from Budhia village, was heard saying: “We were born and brought up in India. Now, it is being told that a mere mistake in the Aadhaar card might cost us our citizenship. This is a curse.”

Ayesha Khatun, a 19-year-old girl, who stood in the queue since 5am, fainted because of stress.

“My daughter is sick. Even then, I brought her to get the Aadhaar corrections done. She stood for six hours and could not bear any more. She suddenly collapsed to the ground and fainted.”

Some other in the queue rushed and provided her with primary treatments. Fear of a stampede and falling sick made people like Nargis Bibi and Akhtara Bewa from Sattari leave the queue.

“Aadhaar card is important but our life is dearer. We cannot risk our lives for the sake of Aadhaar corrections,” Nargis said.

In Jalpaiguri’s Malbazar, the scene was similar.

Around 10,000 people stood in the queue near the post office. They had turned up before sunrise to get Aadhaar data corrected and new cards registered. Traffic along NH31 was hampered as the queue extended. The police and administrative officials reached the spot to restore normalcy.

As the crowd began to grow in size, postal officials declared that distribution of tokens had been deferred. This left people enraged as they had waited for hours. A section of the irate people blocked traffic on the highway at Malbazar.

The police detained a person before lifting the blockade.

Administrative officials took up the matter with the postal department. It was then announced that tokens would be distributed depending on the panchayat an applicant lived in.

Sujit Biswas, the postmaster of Malbazar post office, said: “We did not expect such a huge turnout and initially, the situation had gone out of control. The police and administration helped us restore normalcy.”

Sources said hardly 30 people would come for Aadhaar-related works a day before the NRC panic set in