KARUR: Saturday’s deadly stampede at the TVK rally in Tamil Nadu, which left 40 people dead, was a tragedy in the making from the word go.To start with, it was the timing. TVK president Vijay was supposed to arrive at the rally between noon and 1pm. But by the time he reached the spot, it was 7pm. As a result, the crowd had swelled, way beyond the venue at Velusamypuram could hold. Fans and cadres had assembled at the venue from 11am, transforming the place into a carnival as songs were played. Since it was a weekend, women too visited the spot with children. As the evening approached, scores of workers from textile, mosquito net making units and others who had completed their shifts started gathering at the spot.”Saturday is payday for the workers. So attendance in the units would be high, which in turn resulted in higher turnout at the rally venue,” S Vijayan, a social worker from Thavittupalayam, said.Add to this the frenzied fans of Vijay following him from Namakkal, his earlier campaign spot. The four lanes of Karur-Erode stretch at Velusamypuram was packed by 5pm. Scores of youths on bikes and cars who followed Vijay from Namakkal joined this crowd. “The infusion of cadres and fans that tailed the actor’s vehicle further created congestion,” a police officer said.Unlike other political rallies where a dedicated place is cordoned off for the neta’s campaign vehicle to halt, TVK’s rally at Karur had no such spot for Vijay’s vehicle. The last straw was when Vijay’s campaign vehicle waded through the crowd, displacing those on the road towards both sides. This, in turn, squeezed others who were on the sides, triggering a commotion.As frenzied crowd spilled into a shed accommodating generator powering floodlights, thus disrupting power supply, darkness created the first wave of chaos. People pushing each other caused families moving in different directions, missing their kin. Women raised alarms to save their children who got lost in the crowd.”A part of a tree in front of a commercial complex broke and fell over a shed, causing people, mostly youths, to fall on women and children standing below,” said an eyewitness.Police say the deaths were from two different spots, one about 50m from Vijay’s campaign vehicle and the other few metres away.”Many people died on the spot. Vijay and TVK functionaries threw water bottles, assuming that people had fell unconscious,” said N Devi, a resident of Veluswamypuram.Darkness made people run helter-skelter to find a safe zone, and the rush caused a stampede between 7 and 7.30pm. All this while, blaring speakers played high decibel songs, unaware of the tragedy unfolding.TVK had sought permission to hold the meeting at Karur lighthouse roundabout or Uzhavar Sandhai, citing a crowd of 10,000 people. But the venue suggested was Veluswamypuram, where AIADMK’s rally was held a few days back. However, the crowd gathered was estimated to be 50,000.”Veluswamypuram is a straight road with narrow cut roads. People could not disperse easily in case of a stampede like situation,” Stiffen Babu, a Karur resident, said.The claim was countered by ADGP Davidson Devasirvatham at a press conference. “A few days back, the meeting by the leader of opposition (EPS) was held at the same venue. It was an orderly and well-regulated crowd, and the meeting ended smoothly. We even requested TVK to change the venue, citing the surge in crowd, but they did not cooperate,” the ADGP said. Go to Source
