The ‘Happy Street’ programme organised under the aegis of Madurai Corporation and Tamil Nadu Police on Anna Nagar Main Road in the city ended abruptly due to “poor arrangements” by the organisers, said visitors here on Sunday.
The programme, aimed at giving a platform to the latent talents of youth and children in the area, was planned on the arterial road so as to attract people to come out of their houses and participate in large numbers on a holiday, said an organiser.
Speaking to The Hindu , the organiser, who was an associate (or partner), said that the theme - ‘Wow Madurai.. .celebrate... .enjoy.... fun’ was the first event to be held in the city post-COVID 19 pandemic. Hence, it was planned to invite a Madurai celebrity from the tinselworld.
The Madurai Corporation had organised “Happy Street” events in the past prior to COVID-19 on Kamarajar Salai, at Anna Nagar and a few other locations.
The organiser said that the programme was planned within a short span of time. A stage was set up on one side of the road for the people to display their talents. There were at least a dozen partners from different spheres in the city, who joined the show, the organiser said and added that actor and comedian Soori had agreed to participate as the celebrity guest.
Games, folk arts, dance, martial art such as ‘silambam’ figured in the long list of programme. The event was planned to be held from 7 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. and the “mega” event was making rounds on the social media platforms as well.
Madurai city traffic police had closed the roads leading to Anna Nagar Main Road so as to facilitate the people to assemble in and around Suguna Stores junction. From as early as 6 a.m., youths started arriving at the venue in cars and bikes.
The formal inauguration was held in the presence of ministers Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and P Moorthy, Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth, Collector M.S. Sangeetha, Corporation Commissioner K. J. Praveen Kumar and other dignitaries.
As the crowd standing on the rear side started moving towards the stage to have a close glimpse of the action, the police, who were in meagre numbers, could not control or restrict them.
After the VIPs left the venue, the situation appeared like heading for a “free-for-all.” Repeated pleas to disperse and not crowd at one point fell on deaf ears. On seeing the situation getting out of hand, women and children were told to leave the venue by the organisers.
Since there were no big screens installed, the visitors had no other option but to move forward to see the action unfolding on the stage. In the melee, there were some reports of people falling on one another as the barricades stopped them from moving forward to the stage.
After the crowd became too large to handle, a senior police officer firmly directed the organisers to announce that the event as closed. Following this, people started dispersing from 8.30 a.m.
The Corporation officials were tight-lipped about the chaos and said were busy with the Ministers’ official functions in the city.
A police officer said they were not informed about the likely turnout of people. As there was no entry fee, there was a huge turnout which took the police by surprise.
Residents of Anna Nagar and Tahsildar Nagar said that it was a classic example of how an event should not be organised. Even after the recent chaos reported in Chennai during a musical nite, the officials seemed to have not learnt any lesson. There were reports of stampede and some people having dehydration issues, but the police denied it and said that there were no untoward incidents.
