Chennai: Thousands of people who gathered at a city mall escaped a stampede on Saturday evening. They had converged on the mall since morning for an event featuring Hiphop Tamizha Adhi. By evening, police directed the organisers to cancel the event.When the situation inside the mall grew out of control, people began rushing out, blocking a key three-way junction. At the same time, hundreds of cars and two-wheelers exited through the mall’s two gates. Vehicles were also allowed to exit through a space near Crest Apartments, but this further disrupted local traffic. Gurunanak Road, Velachery Main Road and 100-Feet Road plunged into a traffic nightmare lasting several hours.“The congestion was cleared only by 11.30pm. Police should not approve such events at a mall. Routes in Guindy, Velachery and abutting roads were a complete mess from the evening. It took nearly 1.5 hours to reach Phoenix Mall from Guindy,” said Rajesh Kumar, a commuter.S Kishore, a commuter who was stuck at the junction for nearly an hour, wondered how the authorities decided to hold such an event on the mall’s ground floor. “How can police allow a promo event-cum-concert of a movie star inside a mall? Such events are usually hosted at YMCA or on the city outskirts,” he said.Police said the production team took permission from Guindy police after estimating attendance at around 1,000 people, in addition to regular weekend visitors. However, misleading social media messages described the programme as a free public concert, drawing a much larger crowd.Bouncers directed people through fire exits to ease the pressure, but some of the exits led back into already crowded areas. Videos of youngsters squeezing through packed spaces went viral on social media. “It took three hours from the second-floor MLP to reach the mall exit. From there, it took another hour to reach Velachery railway station by road. This is unbelievable,” said K Jeevitha, a visitor caught in the rush.A police personnel said officers prioritised clearing vehicles from the mall. “We were informed that the crowd swelled inside the mall and that it required a faster exit. We allowed two exits and tried to push the vehicles out,” he said.Police advised Hiphop Tamizha, who was scheduled to arrive around 5pm, not to proceed to the venue. He later apologised to fans in a video.Additional deputy commissioner of police (traffic enforcement), Adyar, Kodi Selvam, said parked vehicles sharply reduced road capacity. He said vehicles occupied more than two lanes on 100-Feet Road, while parked two-wheelers blocked another lane on Velachery Road.GCC commissioner G S Sameeran said organisers usually obtain police permission and intimate the civic body about ticketing and entertainment tax details. Former MAWS additional secretary D S Sivasamy said organisers should obtain entertainment registration from GCC and clearances from traffic police, law-and-order and fire safety authorities. “Only after an inspection by the revenue and police authorities will permission to host events be given. Besides, organisers must facilitate a traffic plan and aid the police. Such events, first of all, must not be allowed inside a mall,” he said.
