People's Democracy

CPI(M) LEADERS CONDOLE DEATHS

Yechury Visits Kumbakonam

N Srinivasan

JULY 16, 2004 was a fateful day for the young children of Sri Krishna Aided Elementary School at Kasiraman Street, Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu. The fire that broke out at about 10.50 a m, a few hours after the school began, from the noon-meal kitchen situated behind the school spread fast through the thatched shed on the first floor of the school building. Ninety children who were trapped under the roof were charred to death in a matter of few minutes. Twenty-two more are undergoing treatment at various hospitals, among whom a few are stated to be very serious. Most of the children were from the families of ordinary workers – coolies in the vegetable market, rickshaw pullers etc., and living in very poor conditions.

The entire nation is yet to come out of the shock of this gruesome tragedy which consumed young children in the tender age group of 7 to 9. Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) and T K Rengarajan, central committee member of the CPI(M) visited Kumbakonam on July 19 to condole the death of the children and to have an on-the-spot study of the situation. They visited the school, which accommodated about 940 students, and saw the hall in which fire trapped the students to death. Yechury placed a wreath on behalf of the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) in front of the school building in memory of the dead children. He also lighted a candle and 90 students of the SFI followed suit as a mark of respect to the 90 young victims.

Yechury and Rengarajan then visited the Government Hospital at Kumbakonam where 11 children were undergoing treatment for burns and consoled the parents and relatives of the injured children. Talking to newspersons at the hospital, Yechury condemned the authorities negligent attitude for having allowed the school administration to run the school in such a place, which had only one staircase as entrance and exit. He also wondered how three schools – namely Sri Krishna Girls High School, Sri Krishna Aided Elementary School and Saraswati Nursery and Primary School (English Medium) were allowed to function from one and the same building, which was actually unfit even to be a godown. The building had no proper ventilation.

Yechury demanded the state government to take immediate steps to ensure that such tragedies do not recur in future. He also wanted the guilty to be brought to book. So far, five persons including the correspondent of the school have been arrested. Yechury wondered how none of the teachers helped the children to come out of the hall. He lamented that had they been present in the school and acted in time, precious lives could have been saved. It is noteworthy that CPI(M) party workers and cadres of SFI were on the spot within minutes to put out the fire and engaged in the rescue operations till the end.

Yechury placed a wreath on behalf of the Party at the burial ground where 60 students were buried in one place, and paid homage. Later, he along with Rengarajan visited Natham village, which is situated 5 km from Kumbakonam.  The village lost 14 children in this tragedy. The CPI(M) leaders met the parents and relatives of each one of the dead children from that village and consoled them. The leaders were moved to tears when the parents and relatives of the children who died narrated their trauma and shock at this loss and the way the hopes of their children were dashed to the ground by the fire accident.

G Veerayyan and K Balakrishnan, both Party state secretariat members, N Srinivasan, district secretary, R C Palanivel and R Jawahar, both state committee members, S Thangamani, town secretary, C Nagarajan, taluk secretary, all district secretariat members along with hundreds of Party workers and sympathisers accompanied the CPI(M) leaders during this visit.

Earlier, on July 16 and 17, 2004, N Varadarajan, CPI(M) state secretary, D Lakshmanan, state secretariat member, N Nanmaran and Balabarathy, both MLAs along with district leaders of the Party visited the school, hospital and the bereaved parents and the relatives and paid their heartfelt condolences.

A statewide fund collection call has been given by the state committee of the Party to help the affected families.