Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Chennai, Oct 15 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday said the Karur stampede, which claimed several lives, has “deeply shocked the people of the state”, and blamed poor crowd management and the long delay in the arrival of actor and Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay for the tragedy.
Expressing condolences to the families of the victims, the Chief Minister told the Assembly that the event was permitted under 11 specific conditions and provided more security than normal political meetings.
However, he said the organizers failed to arrange basic amenities like drinking water, food and toilets for the large crowd that had gathered several hours before the start of the event.
According to Stalin, the tragedy unfolded after a seven-hour delay in Vijay’s arrival and the sudden surge of the crowd towards the stage.
“The meeting was permitted on the request of the organizers and security arrangements were made with 606 police personnel and officials. But the organizers ignored repeated warnings from the police and insisted on holding it only at the approved venue,” he said.
Stalin said that although ambulances were immediately deployed to rescue the injured, agitated party workers attacked some vehicles, hampering relief operations.
He pointed out that just two days earlier, the AIADMK meeting at the same venue had passed off peacefully under similar circumstances, underscoring that the chaos of the Karur rally could have been avoided.
The Chief Minister said that the post-mortem was conducted the same night to quickly hand over the bodies to the bereaved families.
Stalin appealed for collective responsibility to prevent such tragedies in future, saying, “Political parties should act responsibly and ensure that safety norms are followed at all functions. The government has handled the situation as per the law and will abide by the final decision of the Supreme Court.”
However, opposition leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami blamed the state government for the incident and said the tragedy could have been prevented if proper security had been provided. A heated debate followed after demands were made to delete certain comments from the Assembly records. Chairman M. Appavu warned that action would be taken if the disruption continued.
Soon after, AIADMK MLAs staged a sit-in and later walked out of the House.
–IANS
aal/vd