Karur Slowly Recovers From Shock

Chief Minister M K Stalin landed in Karur past midnight and immediately reviewed the situation with Ministers, district officials and doctors while Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin cut short his family holiday in Dubai and came to console the families that lost their loved ones in the stampede that took a toll of 40 lives and sent over 100 persons to different hospitals.

Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, who visited the injured in hospitals, said that lives were irreplaceable and no compensation would help the families overcome the grief. Other AIADMK leaders were also involved in bringing succor to the people affected by the tragedy.

Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Davidson Devasirvatham briefed the media about the tragedy and pointed out that TVK President Vijay had arrived at the meeting venue late, making the people wait without food for long hours. He said that 500 police personnel were deployed for providing security and denied the anonymous claims of an incident of stone-pelting at the venue.

Former Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan, who has been named as the one-member commission to probe the tragedy, started her investigations by visiting the hospitals and also talking to the victims and eyewitnesses. Udhayanidhi told the media that the government would act on the report filed by Jagadeesan.

Among the deceased, 32 persons were from Karur itself and those bodies were cremated immediately since the local custom was to send the bodies of those who perish untimely in accidents to the crematorium directly without any conducting rites at home. So most of the bodies had been cremated by Sunday evening as the authorities had expedited the postmortem process that started on Saturday night itself.

Eyewitnesses said that almost all the victims of the stampede, which started with people surging ahead in the narrow space even as TVK president Vijay was addressing the crowd, hailed from lower middle class homes that witnessed poignant scenes as the wails and cries of parents, relatives and friends touched a crescendo when the bodies arrived home.

DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, accompanied by local Congress MP Jothimani and MLA V Senthil Balaji visited the homes of the victims and handed over the cheque for Rs 10 lakh given as relief by the State Government. TVK president Vijay had announced a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the deceased and Rs 2 lakh to the injured.

Apart from Palaniswami and his party honchos, leaders of other parties who visited Karur included BJP State president Nainar Nagendran and former president K Annamalai. Demanding a CBI probe into the tragedy, Annamalai also visited the injured at the hospital.

Among the others politicians who went to Karur were VCK general secretary Thol Thirumavalavan, leaders from the Communist parties, DMDK’s Premalatha Vijayakanth, former AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala, Naam Tamilar Katchi chief convenor Seeman, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi’s Abdul Samad and TNCC president K Selvaperunthogai, who also announced a total relief of Rs one crore to the victims.

Police were on the lookout of TVK general secretary Adhav Arjuna, Jagadish of The Route social media management company and a bouncer Naeem, who could not be reached as their mobile phones were switched off.

A group of youth organized a protest in front of Vijay’s house in Panaiyur, raising slogans against him and calling him to come out of the house, while police increased security for all TVK district secretaries.