New Delhi ( CNN ) -- A local Indian official resigned Monday after a chaotic crush at a railroad station a day earlier left 36 people dead among tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims flocking to the banks of the Ganges River for the world 's largest religious gathering . The stampede occurred on Sunday evening as floods of pilgrims entering the station in Allahabad , the scene of this year 's Kumbh Mela festival , broke through temporary barriers and crowded onto already busy platforms , railway authorities said . In addition to the 36 killed in the ensuing crush , more than 30 people were injured , according to North-Central Railway , which operates the station . Local television footage showed bodies , many of them covered in white sheets , lying on the floor in the railway station , with wailing relatives sitting nearby . Luggage , shoes , slippers and other belongings also lay strewn across the ground . Shreya Dhoundial , a reporter for CNN affiliate IBN in Allahabad , said that almost four hours after the stampede occurred , dead bodies remained on the station platform and injured people were still crying for help . `` If the media could get in , if police officials could get in , if railway officials could get in , why could n't the doctors , why could n't the ambulances ? '' she said . Worried families . Relatives of many of the people injured in the chaos gathered at a hospital in the city on Monday , waiting for news on their loved ones , Dhoundial said . Azam Khan , the local official in charge of security for the huge Hindu festival , resigned Monday , IBN reported . Khan , who is also the minister for urban development in Uttar Pradesh , the state where Allahabad is situated , said he was taking responsibility for the fatal disaster . Amid confusion about what exactly had set off the panic , the Uttar Pradesh government ordered an inquiry into a the stampede , IBN said . Some eye witnesses blamed police for the crush , saying they had charged at the heaving crowds in the station . Authorities , however , denied police used force to try to control the mass of people . At one point on Sunday , Sandeep Mathur , a spokesman for North-Central Railway , suggested that the mayhem had been prompted by a person falling from a platform bridge . But on Monday , Railway Minister P.K . Bansal said straightforward overcrowding was the cause . `` There was a lot of chaos , '' he said , adding that the station remained very crowded Monday . Authorities said they would give 500,000 rupees ( $ 9,300 ) compensation to the families of victims and 100,000 rupees to those who were injured . Tens of millions of pilgrims . An estimated 40 million people came to Allahabad , in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh , on Sunday to bathe at the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges rivers and the mythical Saraswati River . It 's the most significant Hindu pilgrimage , occurring every 12 years , Indian cultural and political observer K.G . Suresh said . `` The Hindus believe that a dip in the confluence of the Ganges , Yamuna and the Saraswati on this occasion helps get rid of all worldly sins , '' Suresh said . Sunday was the main day for bathing of the 55-day Kumbh Mela . In Hindu mythology , Allahabad is one of the four places where drops of the `` nectar of immortality '' contained in a pitcher fell to earth as gods and demons fought for it . The holy bathing began on Saturday afternoon and peaked after midnight , festival official Satish Kumar Sharma said . More than 12,000 police officers were guarding the nearly 20-square-kilometer ( 7.7-square-mile ) site , India 's government said . Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was `` deeply shocked '' by the deaths and promised to extend `` all possible help '' to state authorities . `` I send my heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved families and wish those injured a speedy recovery , '' Singh said in a statement issued by his office . He pledged that those injured and the families of those killed would receive compensation . CNN 's Aliza Kassim in Atlanta , Georgia , contributed to this report .
NEW : A local official resigns , taking responsibility for the disaster . Local media report grim scenes of bodies spread across the floor at the station . The rail station stampede mars the world 's largest religious festival . An estimated 40 million Hindu pilgrims came to bathe in the Ganges River .