Building collapse: How a DMK leader turned hero overnight by saving lives

Film enthusiasts can never forget a character in Tamil movies called Vatta Seyalaalar Vandu Murugan, which loosely translates into ‘party secretary of a particular region’. This is one of the memorable comic roles played by the popular comedian of Tamil cinema, Vadivelu, in the film Ellam Avan Seyal (2008).

A lawyer-turned-politician, the silly Vandu Murugan would always get embroiled in some trouble along with his followers and end up being lynched by a mob. After the release of the film, Vatta Seyalaalar Vandu Murugan became a catchphrase among people in Tamil Nadu and was used to make fun of lower-level and ineffectual party functionaries.

Not all party workers however can be tarred with the same brush, it seems. Take the case of a veteran DMK party member, TM Thaniyarasu, who really stands out and has even become a hero overnight.

Thaniyarasu, a former DMK councillor from Tiruvottiyur (which was formerly a municipality) assembly constituency, located in north Madras, has saved about 70 lives from a building collapse on December 27. On that day, a slum clearance board’s 28-year-old four-storied building with 24 housing units on Village Street had collapsed. (The slum clearance board is now known the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board)

A day before the collapse, some of the residents had noticed the widening cracks on the walls and alerted Thaniyarasu. Narrating the course of events before the building, Thaniyarasu told The Federal that on December 26, around 10.30 pm, people came to his house and alerted him about the deepening cracks.

“The next day, I took a videographer to film the cracks at 8.30 am. When I was inspecting the building, I felt my body shake. My intuition told me that something bad is going to happen. I immediately went down to the ground floor and I noticed the floor was slowly sinking. I quickly asked everyone in the building to come out,” he said.

Instead of warning the residents that the building was going to collapse, he simply asked them to come out since he had something important to discuss with them. It was his presence of mind and quick thinking that helped to save the lives of the building residents.

Also watch: 28-year-old Slum Clearance Board building collapses in Chennai

“I never uttered a word to them that the building is going to collapse,” he said. Though, all the residents of the flats on the four floors came out after they heard him shouting, Thaniyarasu was not satisfied. He again went to each floor and checked if all had left.

Fortunately, he stumbled upon an old lady who was still cooking, oblivious to the developments. “I told her the truth and brought her down. It was unbelievable that after 10 seconds of the evacuation, the building came down,” added Thaniyarasu.

The three-time councillor, who has studied only up to Class 8, has been in the DMK  for more than three decades. “I was elected as a councillor for the first time in 1991 and I was elected in 1996 and 2001. I joined DMK as a cadre in the party’s youth wing. So, I am used to wielding authority and people listen to me. That’s why nobody questioned me when I ordered them to come out,” he pointed out.

His heroic deed has caught the attention of DMK supremo and chief minister MK Stalin, who invited Thaniyarasu to his office and felicitated him.

According to Thaniyarasu, as of now, some of the families are staying in a community hall and others at the homes of relatives. “They were allocated houses in KP Park settlement but since there are issues over the quality of the building, people are scared to occupy the place. We have promised them that within one year we will provide them houses in the same region. Meanwhile, we are also looking for alternative settlements,” Thaniyarasu said.

The building that collapsed was constructed during the AIADMK period in 1993 and the residents occupied it in 1998. “In the last 10 years, the AIADMK government has not taken up any maintenance works despite many petitions made by the residents. That is the main reason why the building collapsed,” he added.