When 50 folks died in two Sunday stampedes in Chennai

The tragic crowd crush that claimed 41 lives at actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) rally in Karur final weekend is the worst such incident at a political gathering in Tamil Nadu. However, comparable tragedies have additionally occurred at State-managed occasions. Among essentially the most notorious was the 1992 stampede through the Mahamaham pageant in Kumbakonam. That stampede was broadly believed to have been triggered throughout a ritual attended by then Chief Minister Jayalalitha (as she spelled her identify on the time) and her shut aide Sasikala Natarajan (as she was then identified).

Equally grim have been the deaths of fifty folks in two stampedes, each of which occurred on Sundays, in Chennai, 20 years in the past, illustrating how classes in crowd administration are hardly ever discovered.

In the winter of 2005, giant components of Chennai had, for the primary time in a number of a long time, been submerged following heavy in a single day rains and floods. As the town limped again to normalcy, the Jayalalithaa authorities had introduced distribution of aid for the affected.

Around 4.30 am on November 6, 2005, six ladies ready on the Government Dr. Ambedkar Arts College in north Chennai’s Vyasarpadi, a delegated aid distribution centre, have been killed in a stampede, and several other others have been injured. “Hundreds of residents who have been ready with aid tokens collected from ration retailers tried to hurry into the premises to obtain the aid package deal introduced by the federal government. The distribution was to begin at 9 a.m. While the injured admitted to Stanley Hospital say that it was the police who opened the gate, the police mentioned that the crowds compelled open the gate,” a report in The Hindu mentioned. The toll within the incident later went as much as seven.

Jayalalithaa attributed the push to “rumours unfold by mischief-makers who had acknowledged that aid was being distributed at 4.30 a.m and that individuals ought to rush to get them.”

The second tragedy

The tragedy repeated itself on December 19 that 12 months on a a lot bigger scale. As many as 42 folks have been trampled to dying and 37 severely injured in a stampede at a flood aid centre in south Chennai. This incident additionally passed off within the early hours.

“More than 4,000 folks had gathered on the centre, Arignar Anna School in MGR Nagar, the place tokens for grant of aid have been to be given to ration card holders connected to 3 Public Distribution System retailers. The tragedy occurred round 4 a.m. as folks pushed on the gate of the varsity within the perception that distribution of tokens was about to start,” reported The Hindu. It emerged folks had began queuing up from the earlier night time, although the token distribution was to happen solely at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

It defied understanding as to how the night time patrol police had failed to note folks lining up outdoors the varsity. Ironically, when a police patrol car got here to the varsity at 4 a.m., these on the tail finish of the queue thought the workers authorised to distribute tokens had arrived and surged in the direction of the gate. “In the melee, the gate was compelled open,” mentioned the report.

Blame recreation

The Opposition events demanded Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s resignation. The Democratic Progressive Alliance, led by DMK president M. Karuanidhi, charged the federal government with not taking precautionary measures regardless of the stampede at Vyasarpadi the earlier month.

However, Jayalalithaa was on the defensive. She mentioned: “Since the State authorities has been performing very effectively and proper from the President and the Prime Minister everybody has complimented it for the environment friendly method through which we implement the aid measures, it seems as if some culprits and miscreants, who wish to deliver a nasty identify to the federal government and tarnish its picture, have been intentionally spreading such rumours [about the timing of relief distribution].”

Soon, the police arrested Dhanasekaran, the native DMK councillor for spreading misinformation that led to the meeting of the gathering and the stampede. The police mentioned it investigated a criticism by the Revenue Inspector Munisami and it revealed Mr. Dhanasekaran and others unfold rumours and have been chargeable for the tragedy. “A senior police officer mentioned early on Sunday, Mr. Dhanasekaran, together with a couple of others, went around the streets in MGR Nagar saying that Sunday was the final day for receiving flood aid tokens and that the distribution would begin at 5 a.m. Believing him, a crowd started to collect in entrance of the distribution centre. A hunt was on for Senthil and some others,” in line with The Hindu report. The Opposition criticised the police motion.

Meanwhile, Jayalalithaa arrange a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice A. Raman, a former decide of the Madras High Court, to establish the reason for the tragedy. The authorities additionally changed the Chennai Collector S. Chandramohan with N. Muruganandam (now Chief Secretary).

While Mr. Vijay had left Karur with out assembly the victims who died at his rally, Jayalalithaa, regardless of the sturdy criticism in opposition to the federal government, had rushed to the Royapettah Government Hospital and supplied solace to the grieving kinfolk and the injured.