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Sunday, September 28, 2025

Hoardings, ropes at rally site made things worse

Crowd Included People From Other Districts Too

V Srivatsal & Deepak Karthik | Tnn 28.09.2025

Karur : Hoardings and ropes on both sides of the Karur Erode highway at the TVK rally site at Veluswamypuram appear to have contributed to the tragedy. “There was no way for people to flee the stampede like situation because both sides of the road were blocked with ropes and hoardings. Some were injured when the hoardings fell on them, but one thing I am sure, those hoardings and ropes were not there when we reached the venue by 4 pm,” S Ramkumar, a survivor from Vadakku Palayam near Karur, told TOI.

Witnesses said some youths stood atop the roofs of a bakery and offered to help women with children by pulling them to safety. However, the roof collapsed and the situation turned much worse. Men and women who were watching the campaign sitting on two-wheelers were trapped as the crowd surged like a human flood.

“We could not pull out a middle-aged man; his leg was struck in a two-wheeler. But a two-yearold boy was saved, I hope he made it alive,” said R K Nirmal, a survivor. Survivors said the crowd gathered at the Karur venue were not just locals, there were people from Theni, Madurai, and Virudhunagar districts too. They have come to see their star actor at close quarters. Survivors said the crowd that turned up would have filled a huge open ground. “It was chaos. No one knew where their loved ones were; people had fallen ten deep,” said Abinaya S, who lost her aunt Maheshwari. S Maliga, who lost her husband Shankar Ganesh, said, “I asked him not to attend the campaign, but he did. He has now left us all alone.”

38 KILLED IN STAMPEDE AT VIJAY RALLY

■ Deceased Include 10 Children

■ Murmu, Modi Condole Deaths

■ Retd HC Judge to Probe Incident

News Of Missing Girl Triggered Panic In Crowd: Eyewitnesses Team

TOI Karur/Chennai : At least 38 people, including 10 children and 16 women, were killed in a stampede that took place when TVK chief and actor Vijay was addressing an election rally at Karur on Saturday night. Eighty-one people have been hospitalised. Witnesses gave different versions of what triggered the stampede; many said some disturbance in the crowd started as soon as Vijay opened his speech.The actor was heard appealing to the people and police to calm down. Ashmika, a 9-year-old girl, was missing, the public address system said.

Vijay appealed to the police to help. He then cut short his speech and left the place. R K Nirmal, a native of Karur working in an IT firm in Chennai, said everything was normal until Vijay came to the campaign venue. “Suddenly, floodlights connected to a generator turned off. One woman started to search for her missing child. People panicked, and then everyone ran helter-skelter,” he said.

Nirmal said he and a few others managed to evade the frenzy and save a few people. He saw some people trapped and stuck under vehicles. Another rally participant Ramesh V, recalled a moment that triggered panic in the crowd. “When Vijay sang the song criticising V Senthilbalaji as the '10-rupee minister', the crowd erupted. The energy shifted and suddenly the police began using lathis, and people panicked.

Everyone started pushing forward, including parents holding babies. It was chaos,” he said. Compared to the previous campaigns of the TVK leader, Karur was the most disorganised event. Cadres and fans were standing right beside the campaign vehicle.

In a statement, chief minister M K Stalin announced an inquiry commission headed by retired judge Justice Aruna Jagatheesan to probe the incident.

CM orders ₹10L ex-gratia Stalin also ordered an ex-gratia relief of ₹10 lakh each from the chief minister’s public relief fund to next of kin of the deceased and Rs one lakh to each of the injured. “The loss of priceless lives has shaken the hearts of all of us. I express my deep condolences and sympathies to the families who face an irreparable loss,” Stalin said, ordering all those admitted to the hospital be given the best treatment.

The chief minister also rushed to the Secretariat at night and took stock of the situation. Vijay had completed his rally in Namakkal district and was supposed to campaign in Karur district on Saturday evening. From morning, his fans and cadres from various parts of the state beyond Karur started assembling at Veluswamypuram, the location permitted by police for the TVK’s rally on Karur-Erode state highway.

The 2 km stretch from Karur-Trichy highway roundabout to Karur-Erode highway was completely crowded. Many of those gathered were young girls, children and women

Saturday, September 27, 2025

NEWS TODAY 27.09.2025

HC: Don’t share info with anyone, except for probe

Justice Govindaraj noted that while Section 29 restricts divulging of Aadhaar information, Section 33 allows it on a high court order, as is the case here.

“What is required to be ascertained here is whether the said Aadhaar card was used by the son of the petitioner or someone else, and the location of the said usage,” he said.

The court directed UIDAI to provide police with location details where the card was used and instructed cops not to share them with anyone except as required for probe. HC to UIDAI: Share Aadhaar location data to trace missing man

Bengaluru : Karnataka HC has directed UIDAI to share Aadhaar location details to help trace a man who has been reported missing from Hubballi since Dec 2019. Allowing a petition filed by Hubballi resident Krishnamurthy, whose elder son, Vijay Krishnamurthy Sangeet, is missing since Dec 19, 2019, Justice Suraj Govindaraj ruled that the authorities requiring the use or authentication of an Aadhaar card during a probe must approach the high court under Section 33 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016. Vijay, an adult, remains untraceable despite attempts by the police to locate him. Krishnamurthy came to know on June 20, 2023, that his son’s Aadhaar card had been used for the purpose of authentication. Police and the petitioner then sought Vijay’s Aadhaar authentication history from UIDAI. With the Central agency refusing to share the details, the petitioner moved Karnataka high court for redressal.

Paediatric diarrhoea study shows docs prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily

Jahnavi@timesofindia.com 27.09.2025

Bengaluru : A new study on prescription of antibiotics has revealed something surprising: The biggest reason doctors prescribe unnecessary antibiotics for children with diarrhoea isn’t because they don’t know better, it is because they think parents expect “strong medicines”. The study, titled ‘Investigating the know-do gap in antibiotics prescribing: Experimental evidence from India,’ published in Science Advances, analysed 2,282 private healthcare providers across 253 towns in Karnataka and Bihar (50% from each state) treating paediatric diarrhoea. When doctors were presented with cases of viral diarrhoea in kids (where antibiotics aren’t needed), a staggering 70% still prescribed them. Researchers identified three factors behind this — doctors’ assumptions that parents demand antibiotics; financial incentives from selling medicines; requent shortages of oral rehydration salts (ORS) — the recommended treatment for diarrhoea. Doctors were worried that not prescribing “strong medicines” (usually assumed to be antibiotics) would drive patients to other doctors. The experiment showed caretakers preferred providers who gave more medicines overall, with ORS combined with zinc. “Diarrhoea remains a leading cause of preventable child and infant deaths, yet lifesaving treatment with ORS is under-prescribed, with utilisation rates below 20%. WHO guidelines clearly state ORS should be prescribed for all cases of diarrhoea due to its critical role in preventing fatal dehydration,” said Arnab Mukherjee, professor of public policy and chairperson of PGPPM at IIMB and one of the study’s authors.

Kalol college regains 150 MBBS seats after conditional approval

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 27.09.2025

Ahmedabad : The Swaminarayan Medical College in Kalol, which recently faced cancellation of its admissions, has been granted conditional approval for 150 MBBS seats. The move comes after the National Medical Commission (NMC) earlier declared seats at several medical colleges across the country, including the Kalol college, as “zero”, citing serious deficiencies. The college management had challenged NMC’s decision in court. After hearing the matter, the court directed reconsideration of the case, paving the way for temporary relief.

Acting on the directions, authorities have now restored 150 MBBS seats to the institute, but only on strict conditions. According to officials, the NMC inspection flagged multiple shortcomings in infrastructure, faculty strength and clinical facilities at the Kalol-based institute. The conditional approval requires the management to rectify all deficiencies within the next three months. Failure to comply with the stipulated timeline could once again put the college’s recognition at risk. This decision has provided relief to hundreds of aspiring medical students, as the sudden withdrawal of recognition left their future uncertain. With approval restored, the admission process at Swaminarayan Medical College can proceed for the new academic session.