3 women die at Chandranna Kanuka event in Guntur

Guntur: The New Year began on a sad note in Guntur as three women died, and many others suffered injuries in a stampede that took place during the Chandranna Sankranti Kanuka programme at Vikas Nagar here on Sunday. The dead have been identified as Gopisetti Ramadevi of A T Agraharam, Rajyalakshmi and Syed Asma.

The programme was organised by Vuyyur Foundation an NGO near AT Agraharam. Keeping in view the recent incident at Kandukuru where eight people died when a stampede took place, the police and the organisers had made elaborate arrangements for the distribution of Chandranna Kanuka. In addition to the police, a large number of TDP volunteers were also present there. According to SP Arif Hafeez, even rope parties were present at the venue. He said breaking of queue by women led to the incident.

About 15 counters were organised by regulating the women with barricades while entering and exiting the counters. The organisers and police said there were about 15 trucks loaded with gift packs and there was no shortage of the gifts.

The women had come to the venue by 2 pm while the programme began at 4 pm. First TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu addressed the meeting and formally launched the distribution of the gifts symbolically. He then left the place as he was to go back to Hyderabad.

According to the police and some eyewitnesses, some women rushed towards the counter number 1 from the exit side and that led to the stampede.

Police said perfect arrangements for entry and exit of the women in queue lines were made but the sudden surge of some from wrong side led to the incident. Ramadevi lost her life on the spot due to suffocation. The iron barricade collapsed and when women fell on each other, some fell unconscious while some others suffered injuries. Two women died in hospital while undergoing treatment. Police said that there were three ambulances at the site and even private vehicles were used to rush the injured to GGH Hospital.

TDP leaders rushed to the hospital to extend their support to the families of the affected people. Police made heavy bandobust at the hospital as Health Minister Viduthala Rajani and YSRCP leaders visited the GGH Hospital and spoke to the victims and tried to find out what exactly happened.

Ex gratia announced

The Vuyyur Foundation announced an ex gratia of Rs 20 Lakh each to the victims' families, while the state government announced Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased in the incident. Meanwhile, the Telugu Desam Party has also announced Rs 5 lakh assistance to the families of the dead in the stampede.