Chennai air show tragedy: Bureaucratic failure and the politics within explained

Marina beach was chaotic on October 6 with over 15 lakh people gathering to witness the airshow. This was the first time an airshow was organised in Chennai since 2003. The spectators were frustrated, tired and hungry as there was no access to drinking water or food. The food stalls had also run out of food items and water. The government administration, reportedly, did not give permission to set up extra mobile food stalls or even water tankers to be on the road. The entry and the exit routes were completely packed as the people were caught in a stampede-like situation.

“The government says heat as the reason for the chaos. We were there from 9 am to 1 pm. We had carried water and snacks with us. But we got stuck only in the exit route as there were no proper arrangements by the government. The police, I feel, spent all their energy in taking care of the VIPs and not the general public,” says Sangeetha Sudhan, an IT employee who went to watch the airshow with her family.

While Health Minister Ma Subramanian had clarified that the state government had made arrangements as requested by the IAF, people who witnessed the airshow feel that the Chennai administration could not manage a big-scale event. “It is pure inefficiency,” says Rangachari Ramanathan, who went for the airshow with his family.

Subramanian, however, said the arrangements were made after IAF had two meetings with the chief secretary and other bureaucrats. While the government had made arrangements for entry routes, there were no police personnel to manage the crowd at the exit route, which led to the stampede-like situation. The government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the five people who died during the airshow.

In fact the entire Kamarajar Salai aka the Beach Road and the neighbourhood leading to Marina Beach like Triplicane, Chindaripet, Royapettah and Pudupet were flooded with people. The traffic congestion from beach road to Annasalai was blocked as people could not manage to exit from the crowd. Sangeetha says her family had to wait for more than two hours for feeder buses after ploughing through the crowd and reaching the nearby Annasalai. There were no trains as MRTS and CMRL operated on a regular Sunday schedule and did not increase the number of trains. “It was a traumatising experience. I spent the whole night sleepless thinking that we were so close to those who lost lives,” Sangeetha recalls.

Though the health minister is trying hard to save the image of the government, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi’s tweet expressing grief for the death of five people had exposed the chinks in the DMK armour. In a message on X, Kanimozhi said “Unmanageable gatherings should be avoided in the future,” which meant that the government administration could not manage the crowd and handle the situation.

While leaders of all political parties, including the opposition AIADMK and the BJP have called out the administration failure in handling the situation, Kanimozhi's social media post gained more attention as she seemed to be expressing her disappointment over Stalin elevating son Udhayanidhi as deputy chief minister.