Crowding at musical event raises concerns at Nishagandhi auditorium

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A musical event organised by the state cooperative department on Thursday night at the Nishagandhi Auditorium spiralled out of control as spectators turned out in large numbers, raising serious safety concerns. The event, featuring a performance by popular rapper Vedan, drew audiences beyond the capacity of the venue, making it unmanageable for police officers and prompting organisers to wind up the event early.

The tin-sheet fencing put up by organisers as barricade was destroyed in the crowd melee. Several individuals climbed onto the tiled roof of the auditorium to get a better view of the performance, raising fears of an impending accident. Hundreds who arrived at the venue to enjoy the event had to return disappointed owing to the chaotic situation.

“They put up fencing for a free event. That led to chaos. If they had put up screens to livestream the event this mess could have been avoided,” said Vivek V, an attendee. Many who made it to the event criticised the organisers for holding such a crowd-pulling event at Nishagandhi, with limited seating capacity.

Sudheesh S, another listener, said the large crowd made it impossible to enter the venue. “Utter chaos reigned; we have never witnessed such a crowd at Kanakakkunnu before. I saw several people collapsing from suffocation. I left the venue when I sensed danger,” he said.

According to police, the auditorium can only hold around 4,000 people and on Thursday night over 10,000 people turned up. “People from faraway places came to witness the event. Fortunately, nothing untoward happened,” an officer with Museum police station said.

Sections of the tiled roof inside the auditorium were damaged after attendees scaled them.

An official in charge of Kanakakkunnu Palace said the auditorium and grounds had been rented out to the cooperative department for the expo. “It’s their responsibility to host the event smoothly. We will assess the damage and the restoration cost will be collected from organisers,” the official said.

According to organisers, the programme was wound up on the direction of the police. “We didn’t expect this large a crowd for the event. The expo is ongoing and every evening we have been staging similar events. There have been no such issues. We put up barricades to ensure the safety of the people inside the auditorium. When things went out of control on Thursday evening, police alerted us and we concluded the event immediately to avoid an untoward incident,” the official added.