Water, toilet & Rs 20L deposit in SOP for events

CHENNAI: A draft standard operating procedure (SOP) for conducting political rallies and meetings has mandated political parties to provide toilets for every 500 participants and four litres of drinking water to each participant. The draft SOP comes five weeks after 41 people died in TVK’s political meet in Karur.

As per the draft SOP distributed to representatives of political parties who took part in a consultation meeting held in Secretariat on Thursday, event organisers (political parties) should pay a security deposit of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 20 lakh based on the number of expected participants. For an expected participation of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Rs 1 lakh should be deposited and for more than 50,000 participants, Rs 20 lakh should be paid. The SOP and the security deposit are not applicable for gatherings of less than 5,000 participants.

If the actual participation exceeds the expected number by more than 50 per cent, the government will forfeit the security deposit and take legal action against the organiser. Also, the government will forfeit full or part of the security deposit in case of damages to public properties, violation of norms and others.

With reports attributing the Karur stampede to the delayed arrival of TVK leader Vijay, which forced people to wait for long hours, suffering dehydration and fatigue, the draft SOP mandates political parties to avoid wait time more than two hours. Public meetings and road shows should be wound up in three hours. However, local police can extend the duration based on the nature of the event.

As per the SOP, the district administration will categorise events as low risk, medium risk and high risk based on the venue, number of participants and others.

Furthermore, district administrations will constitute Event Safety Monitoring Committees at district and taluk levels, which will have officials from Revenue, Police, Health, Public Works, Electricity, and Fire and Safety departments, as well as from local bodies. District-level committees will monitor events categorised as high-risk, while taluk level committees will monitor low- and medium-risk events.

Organisers should obtain safety and stability certificates to verify stability of stages, sound systems and electric equipment from empanelled engineers. Flag posts and digital banners should be erected as per the norms of the Revenue Department and Municipal Administration Department. The Public Works Department will monitor stages and other structures. If a gathering exceeds a venue’s capacity, organisers should place barricades and ropes to streamline the crowd.

Organisers should also ensure that emergency services and transportation are not affected, and leaders should speak at approved spots. Moreover, parties should appoint volunteers to prevent people from following the vehicles of leaders. Separate space should be allotted for pregnant women, senior citizens, children and persons with disabilities at venues.

The government has requested all political parties to submit their opinions and suggestions before November 10.