Nearly three weeks after the tragic stampede in Karur that claimed 41 lives, the Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam party (TVK), led by actor-politician Vijay, has credited Rs 20 lakh each to the bank accounts of 39 bereaved families.
Two families—those of Prithika and Chandra—are yet to receive the financial assistance. According to party insiders, the payment could not be made due to incomplete documentation. The payment would be made soon before Vijay pays a personal visit, party workers told TNM.
According to reports, Vijay intends to meet the affected families in Karur after the Deepavali festival.
Forty-one people including 9 children were killed in a stampede during Vijay’s rally in Karur on September 27. The tragedy had garnered national attention and triggered widespread criticism of the organisers’ crowd management.
Following the incident, Chief Minister MK Stalin announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakhs each to the families of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh to the injured.
The TVK had separately pledged a relief package of Rs 20 lakh for each bereaved family and an amount of Rs 2 lakh to the injured.
Meanwhile, the TVK leadership has instructed its cadres not to hold Deepavali celebrations in the party’s name as a mark of respect to the victims. In a circular issued by TVK General Secretary Bussy Anand, local executives were directed to refrain from any public festivities or party-branded celebrations during the festive week.
The Karur tragedy continues to cast a shadow over the TVK’s public outreach programmes. While the party maintains that the stampede was an “unfortunate accident”, questions over event safety, crowd control, and responsibility remain under discussion within political and administrative circles.