Chennai IAF air show attendees sought fire engines to quench their thirst

CHENNAI: The public at the Marina beach on Sunday was so parched for water that they begged the firemen to share water from their fire tender.

Several were seen in the alleyways of Pattinapakkam slum clearance board seeking water from residents as there were no vendors or sufficient water points at the venue.

“I was walking back after buying water bottles for my kids when several senior citizens begged me for a sip of water. After sharing with some of them, I rationed and shared the remaining with my family. It was a painful sight. While walking towards Triplicane MRTS station, we saw many drinking water from a fire tender,” said M Patel (34), a software engineer from Madipakkam.

Also Read: Passenger footfall in MRTS surged to 3 lakh on IAF air show day

He stated that shelters were set up on the beach and those were marked as ‘VIP area’. The general public were boxed into makeshift cubicles on the beach sands. Though the families had come prepared with umbrellas, water bottles and snacks, the four-hour wait under the scorching sun for those who reached the venue as early as 9 am depleted their stocks.

Several visitors said that their quest for drinking water led them far away from their families. “No water bottles were sold anywhere inside those cubicles or nearby. I somehow managed to buy the last of three water bottles from a vendor. On the way, I could see many people fainting and being carried by their family members. And, the mobile networks were down at the venue,” lamented a visitor to the show.

After the show was over, the focus of police personnel was on making way for the VIP vehicles despite the visible chaos on the road. The situation at the Triplicane MRTS station was worse with people waiting for hours to board a train to reach south Chennai areas.

Parents who were enthusiastic about their kids doing chart-work bearing slogans like ‘We love IAF’ and ‘IAF rocks’ before leaving their house for the show felt only relief at the end of the day. And they have questions for the powers that be.

“The city police, on their social media platforms, advised us to use MRTS service and public transportation. But, I wonder if the Southern Railway was requested to operate special trains in anticipation of the huge crowd,” averred P Asha, a software professional. “Who and/or which department was responsible for water management? Expecting 15 lakh people, how much drinking water was planned to be made available for visitors?”

It did not miss the visitors that the VIPs were well taken care of, but the general public were left to fend for themselves.