Kalimedu village is located at a distance of 8 km from Thanjavur. The Chithrai Festival is held annually on the Upper Birth Satya Nakshatra Day at the temple of the Upper Monastery here. In that sense the election took place at about 10 o’clock the night before yesterday. The 10-foot-tall tooth toad, adorned with electric lights, was pulled by a large number of devotees, both boys and adults, who attended the festival.
At this point, at about 3.30 in the morning, the giant wheel of the chariot suddenly descended into the abyss. Meanwhile, the high voltage power line that went over the place was thrown into the chariot. Thus the electricity flowing in the chariot struck the devotees who were holding it and the whole chariot caught fire.
Eleven people, including two boys, Santosh and Rajkumar, were tragically killed in the accident. Twenty injured people have been admitted to the Tanjore Government Medical College Hospital in critical condition.
On learning of the accident, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin expressed his condolences in the early hours of the morning and announced that the government would provide relief assistance of Rs. 5 lakh each to the families of the 11 victims of the Tanjore Chariot Festival. He also ordered high quality treatment for the injured. The condolence resolution was also passed in the assembly.
In this condition, he went straight from the assembly to Chennai airport at around 11.30 am yesterday, from there he flew to Madurai at 2.30 am and then reached Kalimedu village near Thanjavur via Trichy by road.
There, he visited the scene of the chariot accident and went to the house of Santosh, a 14-year-old boy who died in the accident, and met the family in person and expressed his condolences. The victims cried when they saw the Chief Minister. MK Stalin passed them by and handed them a check containing the relief amount. He then paid his respects to the families of the 8 victims on a nearby street and later to the house of Lower Gate Mohan and Holy Nagar Nagaraj who died in the accident with a flower ring and consoled all of them by giving them checks for relief money provided by the government. Some people wept when they saw the Chief Minister and demanded from the Chief Minister that one of their family members should be given a government job.
After this, Chief Minister MK Stalin met the injured who were admitted to the Tanjore Government Hospital and consoled them and asked the medical authorities about the treatment being given to them.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by DMK Parliamentary Committee Chairman DR Palu, Ministers KN Nehru and Anbil Mahesh Poyamozhi during the inspection. Earlier, the school education minister Anbil Mahesh, who had gone to the spot earlier, had rendered necessary assistance to the families of the victims and the injured.