Bengaluru, June 4 Defending the police department over the stampede incident near Chinnaswamy Stadium, the Congress-led Karnataka government on Wednesday said that the cops have done their best to control the situation. Several people are feared killed in the incident.
Commenting on the tragedy, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said on Wednesday: “I don’t blame my police department for the incident. The police have done their best. The police have worked beyond their capacity. The police couldn’t have cane-charged the crowd. You have seen the massive crowd gathered.
“The crowd was so huge that we got the procession cancelled from the HAL airport. Later, they had requested to conducted parade from the Vidhana Soudha to the Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was also cancelled. The programme was wrapped up in 30 minutes at the stadium. I came by myself to ensure this and the crowds move out safely,” Shivakumar said.
Answering a question on number of deaths in the stampede tragedy, Shivakumar stated that he cannot confirm anything related to the fatalities yet.
"From Vidhana Soudha, the crowd was so much that I had to bring the Secretary and the President of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) in my vehicle. More than 5,000 police personnel were deployed to control the crowd. I do not have the information on fatalities and if get the information in this regard, I will inform you,” Shivakumar said.
He further said: "This was not a controllable crowd. I apologise to the people of Karnataka and Bengaluru, as the crowd was uncontrollable... we stopped the procession. Since the rain started pouring, we stopped the programme at the Vidhana Soudha. We had also arranged an open vehicle and we had to cancel the victory parade."
Meanwhile, the BJP unit of Karnataka lashed out at the Congress led government in Karnataka for the tragedy. The BJP State President B.Y. Vijayendra visited the Bowring hospital and spoke to the victims and their family members.
“The state government was interested in publicity rather than arranging safety and security of the people. “There are more than 11 deaths as per my information. Many youths are in ICU. As per the statement of victims, there was no police and there were no ambulances. They had brought their friends and relatives to the hospital by themselves,” Vijayendra charged.
“I demand judicial enquiry regarding the incident. Let Chief Minister Siddaramaiah decide on who should take responsibility for this tragedy,” Vijayendra stated.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy Shivakumar and Home Minister G. Parameshwara have also visited the Bowring Hospital where the injured individuals were admitted.
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