Four killed in stampedes as crowd control fails at Athi Varadar fest
A.Selvaraj@timesgroup.com
Chennai:19.07.2019
Four people died in minor stampedes that broke out as huge crowds flocked to Kancheepuram for darshan of Athi Varadar on Thursday, considered especially auspicious as it was the day after the lunar eclipse.
The stampedes were triggered by rumours that the authorities planned to cut darshan timings. People waiting in queues on narrow roads started pushing and shoving in their bid to get ahead, said witnesses.
Police said Narayani, 60, from Avadi, and Anandavel, 47, from Salem were stepping out after worshipping the deity when they got caught in a stampede near the temple’s east tower. Stampedes near the west temple tower left Natarajan, 60, a resident of Triplicane, and Ganga Valli, 60, from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh dead. Lakshmi Narayanan, 60, from Karnataka was injured and hospitalized. Huge crowds have been visiting the Devarajaswamy temple since July 1 when the idol made from the wood of fig tree (athi) was brought out from an underground water tank. The idol, displayed every 40 years for 48 days, was last seen in 1979.
From the beginning, pilgrims have been complaining about poor facilities such as insufficient loos and food and water. They’ve also had to wait for eight hours or more for darshan, especially on the weekends. On Thursday, there were also unconfirmed reports that adozen people had fainted after waiting in long queues.
Rumours about plan to cut darshan timings sparked the stampedes
CM gives ₹1L solatium, Stalin faults state govt
A police officer said, “Two of the four died of natural reasons, as they suffered cardiac and other problems.”
Pattabiram-based T Sadagopan, who had to stand in line for three hours to reach the eastern tower, said, “Around 1pm, an ambulance drove through the queue to rescue a devotee requiring immediate medical attention on the temple premises. As the vehicle was moving amid the crowd, people fell over each other creating panic,” he said. This led to a nearstampede situation, where at least 40 people fainted, he added.
“The irony was that none from the district machinery came to our rescue. After we realized that it would be dangerous to continue the pilgrimage, we returned to the temporary bus terminus by shelling out ₹500 to a two-wheeler to drop us there,” he added. Sadagopan charged that crowd mismanagement was the key reason for Thursday’s episode. Despite repeated attempts, TOI could not reach Kancheepuram collector P Ponniah for his reaction.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a solatium of ₹1 lakh each to the families of the four deceased. He said all the four who died had darshan and left the temple when they developed health complications and were taken to the temporary medical camps nearby. “They were brought dead, with three of them having ‘high BP history’ and one person suffering from convulsions (fits). Another devotee died on July 3, after falling down the steps of the main temple.” he said.
Earlier, DMK chief M K Stalin accused the government of botching things up and not making proper arrangements for the oncein-40-years pilgrimage.
(With inputs from Yogesh Kabirdoss in Kancheepuram)
A.Selvaraj@timesgroup.com
Chennai:19.07.2019
Four people died in minor stampedes that broke out as huge crowds flocked to Kancheepuram for darshan of Athi Varadar on Thursday, considered especially auspicious as it was the day after the lunar eclipse.
The stampedes were triggered by rumours that the authorities planned to cut darshan timings. People waiting in queues on narrow roads started pushing and shoving in their bid to get ahead, said witnesses.
Police said Narayani, 60, from Avadi, and Anandavel, 47, from Salem were stepping out after worshipping the deity when they got caught in a stampede near the temple’s east tower. Stampedes near the west temple tower left Natarajan, 60, a resident of Triplicane, and Ganga Valli, 60, from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh dead. Lakshmi Narayanan, 60, from Karnataka was injured and hospitalized. Huge crowds have been visiting the Devarajaswamy temple since July 1 when the idol made from the wood of fig tree (athi) was brought out from an underground water tank. The idol, displayed every 40 years for 48 days, was last seen in 1979.
From the beginning, pilgrims have been complaining about poor facilities such as insufficient loos and food and water. They’ve also had to wait for eight hours or more for darshan, especially on the weekends. On Thursday, there were also unconfirmed reports that adozen people had fainted after waiting in long queues.
Rumours about plan to cut darshan timings sparked the stampedes
CM gives ₹1L solatium, Stalin faults state govt
A police officer said, “Two of the four died of natural reasons, as they suffered cardiac and other problems.”
Pattabiram-based T Sadagopan, who had to stand in line for three hours to reach the eastern tower, said, “Around 1pm, an ambulance drove through the queue to rescue a devotee requiring immediate medical attention on the temple premises. As the vehicle was moving amid the crowd, people fell over each other creating panic,” he said. This led to a nearstampede situation, where at least 40 people fainted, he added.
“The irony was that none from the district machinery came to our rescue. After we realized that it would be dangerous to continue the pilgrimage, we returned to the temporary bus terminus by shelling out ₹500 to a two-wheeler to drop us there,” he added. Sadagopan charged that crowd mismanagement was the key reason for Thursday’s episode. Despite repeated attempts, TOI could not reach Kancheepuram collector P Ponniah for his reaction.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a solatium of ₹1 lakh each to the families of the four deceased. He said all the four who died had darshan and left the temple when they developed health complications and were taken to the temporary medical camps nearby. “They were brought dead, with three of them having ‘high BP history’ and one person suffering from convulsions (fits). Another devotee died on July 3, after falling down the steps of the main temple.” he said.
Earlier, DMK chief M K Stalin accused the government of botching things up and not making proper arrangements for the oncein-40-years pilgrimage.
(With inputs from Yogesh Kabirdoss in Kancheepuram)
No comments:
Post a Comment