CHENNAI: Four of the 12 people who fell unconscious following a stampede at the Varatharaja Perumal temple in Kancheepuram on Thursday afternoon died. Three others are in critical condition in the hospital. The victims were among thousands who turned up at the temple for a glimpse of the deity Athi Varadar on Thursday.
Officials claim there was no stampede, and the elderly persons died of ‘prolonged illness’ and ‘cardiac arrest’. Sources, however, say the stampede was caused by improper crowd management. The elderly persons had suffocated to death. The deceased have been identified as Narayani (55) from Avadi, Natarajan (61) from Triplicane, Anandavel (50) from Salem and Ganga Lakshmi (47) from Guntur.
According to reports, those who fainted were taken to the GH in Chengalpattu. Later, around 3.30 pm, they were shifted to Kancheepuram GH. Four of them, however, did not respond to treatment and died, said police sources.
Sources say that since the beginning of the temple festival, public has been complaining to the management about lack of facilities and scarcity of water.
The deity of Athi Varadar is taken out of water once in every 40 years and kept for public darshan for a period of 40 days. Lakhs of devotees have been thronging Kancheepuram over the last few days for a darshan.
“Since Thursday was one of the most important days, crowds started flowing into the temple premises since Wednesday night,” says a senior official.
“The queue stretched for over six kilometres. It took an average of eight hours of waiting to get inside the temple and see the deity.” On July 3, two men died at the temple due to alleged police highhandedness — an auto driver committed suicide while a devotee from Andhra died of cardiac arrest after being beaten by police personnel.
CM announces solatium
Replying to MK Stalin, who urged that the government provide solatium to the bereaved families, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said Rs 1 lakh solatium will be given to the bereaved families from the Chief Minister relief fund.