Sekarbabu counters Udhayakumar with festival stampede deaths count from 10 yrs

Chennai: Intervening during the debate on the demand for grants for the revenue department in the Assembly, Sekarbabu said that about 44 persons were killed in six different incidents during festivals in the last 10 years of the AIADMK rule, he said as AIADMK MLA Udhayakumar attributed the deaths due to poor safety arrangements made by the state government in Madurai.

Clarifying that about 3,000 police personnel were deployed and the arrangements were overseen by two Ministers from the district besides an additional commissioner of the department camping there, Sekarbabu said, the people were hungry (of bhakti) for three years and the Chief Minister had immediately deputed two Ministers after the incident.

Pointing out that Rs 5 lakh each was given to the families of the two deceased and Rs 2 and Rs 1 lakh were distributed to grievously and simply injured (jointly 12) people respectively during the festival, Sekarbabu said the Chief Minister has instructed them to make sure that such incidents do not recur.

Stating that the Tiruvannamalai Chitra Pournami had passed off smoothly with over 20 lakh devotees turning up, the Minister recalled a specific incident when seven people died during a festival on July 21, 2019, during the previous AIADMK regime. The Minister also asked Udhayakumar not to politicise the matter, which the Opposition MLA denied doing so.