On Gandhi Jayanthi day in 1993, an industrialist, played philanthropist, in the temple town of Palani in Tamil Nadu little anticipating it would land him in jail.
Pitchai Chettiar, who was stated to be running textile mills at Tiruppur and Dharmapuri districts, was used to distributing sarees and dhotis to the poor. His philanthropy formula was this – for every, 1,000 sarees manufactured, he would set apart one saree for free distribution. That year he had originally made arrangements for the distribution of free sarees to needy women in Palani on October 3. However, he advanced it by a day and booked a kalyana mandapam (wedding hall) to hand over the sarees to the beneficiaries.
Hundreds of women started to queue up at the marriage hall, as a small posse of policemen, who were on bandobust duty, looked on. However, late at night chaos broke out with everyone in the crowd wanting to grab the sarees. In the melee many elderly women fell down leading to a stampede that killed 12 and injured two women. Among those who died were two octogenarians and three septuagenarians. Only two of the victims were not senior citizens, aged between 45 and 55 years.
“Eyewitnesses said a big crowd had even gathered from 10 a.m. Late in the night, the distribution started and a few who had received clothes were returning when some women from outside gatecrashed into the kalyana mandapam. Many old women fell down and were trampled upon. An old woman, who was one of the beneficiaries, said she saw many women standing on the bodies, keen to receive the sarees rather than helping the old people who had been trampled on,” a report in The Hindu dated October 4, 1993, said.
The police arrested Pitchai Chettiar, his son Palaniappan and five persons belonging to his industry and registered cases against them.
Early next morning Deputy Inspector General of Police S. V. Venkatakrishnan, inspected the scene of the tragedy. Later, he told journalists, the organisers could have made pucca arrangements with entrance and exit gates in the street, whose width was between six and eight feet. “The people had to elbow their way into the kalyana mandapam,” he said. As per his version, four police personnel were posted at the venue for crowd control.
“The organisers distributed 1,200 sarees and when a few more were to be distributed, an announcement was made. As a result another 1,500 people waiting to get their clothes rushed in, leading to the stampede and deaths,” the report said.
Incidentally, bodies of five victims were taken away by relatives. The DIG said they had to be persuaded to return the bodies so that postmortem and other formalities could be completed.
Chief Minister Jayalalitha (as her name was spelt before 2001) ordered an enquiry by G. Malaikani, the Revenue Divisional Officer of Palani. She announced a solatium of ₹10,000 to families of each of the deceased and ₹5,000 each to the injured women from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
As per The Hindu report, “…she said charity to the needy was to be appreciated, but the attempts by some persons to promote themselves under the garb of philanthropy could not be accepted by the Government.”
Ordering action against the organisers of the event, Jayalalitha said to avoid such incidents, police permission would not be granted for functions of this nature. Also, if private parties intended making donations, they should identify individual beneficiaries and arrange for the distribution with adequate police protection.
She also noted, the Government itself was every year distributing free dhoties and sarees to landless labourers and all those living below the poverty line.
If Jayalalitha believed distribution of clothes by the Government would be incident-free, it was not. She was proved wrong on March 8, 1996, when a 70-year-old woman, Navameri of Vadakku Vasal in Thanjavur, died and 17 other women were injured in a stampede at Sangeetha Mahal in Palace Complex when then Revenue Minister S.D. Somasundaram, was distributing free dhothis and sarees to landless agriculture labours. “Navameri, who fell and was trampled upon by the surging crowd of women who suddenly entered the Mahal by opening the main gate near where they were waiting for a long time, was pronounced dead at the Thaniavur Medical College Hospital. The injured persons were admitted to the hospital,” said a report in this newspaper.
As per the report, to regulate the crowd and ensure orderly distribution the officials allowed only 500 persons inside the Mahal and asked others to wait outside. “As the Minister had come to Thanjavur in the morning and was distributing dhothis and sarees at different places, the women were waiting for a long time outside the Mahal. The Minister, who came at 3 p.m.. distributed sarees and dhothis to the persons inside the Mahal. Nearly 300 women were waiting at the main gate while the Minister distributed sarees and dhothies to five hundred persons inside. Those who got the sarees and dhothis were getting out through the side gate. As the Minister was about to finish distribution inside the hall, women waiting near die main gate surged forward, opened the door and started running inside. In their eagerness to go’ inside they did not notice the steps immediately after the entrance. They fell down and a stampede ensued,” said the report.
Published – October 01, 2025 05:30 am IST
