Kumbakonam fire: Sampath panel had severely indicted school founder

August 01, 2014 02:56 am | Updated April 22, 2016 03:04 am IST - TIRUCHI:

The Justice K. Sampath Commission, constituted to inquire into the causes of the fire that killed 94 students at Sri Krishna Primary School, Kumbakonam, had indicted school founder Pulavar Palanisamy for the disaster.

The commission said in its report: “Palanisamy was the monarch of all that he surveyed, and there was none to dispute his hegemony over the schools that functioned on the same premises.” “His wife Saraswathi and niece and adopted daughter Santhalakshmi were all his assisting puppeteers. Another niece Hemalatha’s husband Prabakaran, headmaster of the school, was also a puppet,” it said.

“The schools were his fiefdom. He would defy every law under the sun and yet get away with it. Because of his avarice and shady dealing, 94 precious lives have been lost, and 18 more will carry the marks of the sordid episode for the rest of their lives. The authorities had been hoodwinked or purchased outright for allowing the management to run three schools where not even one could be run,” said the report, which was tabled in the Assembly on September 2, 2006.

The commission blamed the management for the high death toll. “The fire could have been very well averted, had the management been less avaricious and had more concern for the welfare of the children studying in the schools.”

“It was an accident due to the carelessness of the noon-meal staff and the callous indifference and criminal insensitivity on the part of the management, compounded and abetted by the departments that failed to implement and enforce the laws and safety standards.”

A cross-section of Kumbakonam residents says Palanisamy, who was awarded life sentence by a Thanjavur court on Wednesday, wielded ultimate authority in the three schools that functioned on the same premises. His political clout enabled him to develop the schools, flouting rules and regulations.

K. Inbaraj, secretary of the Kumbakonam Pallitheevipathu Pathikapatta Pertrorgal, a body of the parents of the victims, accused Palanisamy of resorting to “dilatory tactics” to hold up the legal process. He could not have run three schools from the same premises without his political clout, he said.

The commission, too, had said something similar. “Palanisamy was a manipulator par excellence, and he kept Education, Municipal and Revenue Department officials under his thumb; many of the officials were afraid of his political clout,” it said.

The residents say the school and government authorities had defied the law at every stage. “The government awarded ‘conditional recognition’ to the schools at regular intervals, stipulating the same ‘conditions’ every time. The management did not bother to fulfil the conditions, nor did the government bother to ensure compliance.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.