"If health minister has a little shame he should resign" : AIADMK's Kovai Sathyan on Chennai Air Show incident

Kovai Sathyan said, "If the health minister has got a little bit of shame he should resign immediately. This clearly exposes not only the mismanagement but also mis-governance and lack of planning. This is not the first time that these kinds of incidents have happened. The inter-departmental coordination was exposed, the traffic department didn't do their job, people were made to walk for 5-10 km. There were no entry and exit marked. I could see women and children fainting."

The AIADM leader claimed the police also were clueless on how to provide medical assistance to the needy.

"There were no water dispensers. There were no makeshift rest rooms. The ambulance could not reach the spot due to poor management of traffic. All focus was on Mr Stalin and his son and his family. They were happy in the air-conditioned makeshift tents. All ambulances were on standby near VIP areas. Chief Minister MK Stalin is the most incompetent Chief Minister in India. MK Stalin should have sacked the Health Minister Ma Subramanian," he added.

He further said that to carry the patients in stretchers they had to jump over the barricades to get access to ambulance.

Earlier Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian confirmed that five people had lost their lives due to the after effects of excessive heat during the Air Force Air show.

""Deaths are indeed sorrowful. But there shouldn't be politics in this. If anyone thinks of doing politics, they will fail. The deaths of five people are painful. The deaths happened because of high temperatures. All are heat-related deaths. All 5 were brought dead. No one died after getting treatment in hospital," Ma Subramanian said.

"Fortunately, the situation has improved, with only 7 remaining inpatients as of now. 4 at Omandurar Hospital, 2 at Rajiv Gandhi Hospital, and 1 at Royapet Hospital," the minister added.

The Health Minister also noted that precautionary measures had been communicated in advance of the event.

"IAF already informed about precautions which has to be taken while coming for show with umbrella and water bottle"

Earlier in a post on X Ma Subramanian had claimed that the state government had made all arrangements as per the IAF's demand.

"Full administrative cooperation of the Government of Tamil Nadu was extended to successfully conduct the Indian Air Force Air Adventure Program at Chennai. In order to properly plan and conduct the event, a coordination meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary with Indian Air Force officers and Tamil Nadu government department officials once and then several times at the departmental level. In these consultative meetings, arrangements were made keeping in mind all the demands of the Air Force officers," he said in a post on X.

The Indian Air Force on Sunday organised an Air Show at Chennai's Marina Beach ahead of the upcoming 92nd Air Force Day on October 8. (ANI)