How taxpayers end up paying for stampedes as parties shy away from insuring events

The recent stampede at actor-politician Vijay’s political rally in Karur, in which 41 people lost their lives and over 90 were left injured, has ignited a serious debate on compensation and insurance among the Indian public.

In the wake of the stampede, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin swiftly announced Rs 10 lakh each for the families of the dead and Rs 1 lakh for the injured. Prime Minister Narendra Modi added another Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for bereaved families and Rs 50,000 for the injured. TVK chief Vijay also stepped up and announced Rs 20 lakh for the kin of the victims and Rs 2 lakh for the injured.

But amid the grief and political blame-trading, an uncomfortable question has surfaced: why must taxpayers foot the bill when organisers failed to buy coverage that insurers say is easily available for almost every kind of mass gathering?

Also read: Vijay speaks on Karur stampede tragedy, challenges Stalin govt

Booming event-insurance market

Over the past decade, India has seen an explosion of insurance for spectacles big and small. The Bengaluru and Chennai air shows, sprawling corporate expos, music concerts, and religious gatherings like the annual Sabarimala pilgrimage or the Ganesh Puja pandals in Mumbai are now routinely covered. Even society weddings, cricket tournaments, and college festivals increasingly take out policies.

Meera Parthasarathy, general manager, Oriental Insurance Company, said the company’s portfolio now spans everything, including “cricket matches, exhibitions, concerts (open air or otherwise), Ganesh pandals, kabbadi and football matches, golf matches, sports days, amusement parks, sometimes weddings and photoshoots.”

She added that cancellation cover often extends to “political issues, bandhs, weather or death of prominent figures,” alongside the more conventional public liability component. “Public liability pays for death or permanent total disablement,” Meera said, with overall limits set “from Rs 5 crore as policy limit up to Rs 150 crore.”

Watch: Karur stampede: Why child safety laws failed at Vijay’s rally

Insurers’ product catalogue

It isn’t just Oriental; other state-owned majors like New India Assurance, National Insurance, and United India Insurance also underwrite religious events, corporate launches, and cultural programmes. Private players like ICICI Lombard, Bajaj Allianz, and HDFC Ergo have pushed event-cancellation and public-liability products into their standard catalogues. Bajaj Allianz’s event policy explicitly covers non-appearance of artists, damage to equipment, and cancellation due to insured perils.

A senior insurance broker described the scene bluntly: “There is enough and adequate insurance to cover every possible event scenario today in India.”

Insurance fixes that saved the day

To illustrate, the broker recounted two recent claims. “There was a high-profile wedding scheduled at an outdoor heritage venue in Jaipur during the monsoon season. The couple booked the venue and paid non-refundable advances for catering, decorations, and a celebrity singer’s appearance. But unfortunately, there was an unseasonal, severe storm that struck the city on the wedding day, flooding the open-air venue. The event has to be cancelled and relocated to an indoor banquet hall at the last minute. And in this case, the insurer paid the damages, like the extra costs for the alternative indoor venue, and paid the vendors, who faced a loss as well.”

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He also cites the case of an IT firm that had a major product launch and conference in Mumbai for 500 attendees, including international clients and investors. "They had rented high-tech audio-visual equipment and secured a large exhibition space. But unfortunately, there was a short circuit which caused a fire, damaging some of the rented AV equipment and the property. There was also a delay in the launch, and the insurer then paid up for the ruined equipment and property,” he says.

Experts say the solutions are straightforward. Event insurance products already exist with wide coverage bands, tailored limits, and proven pay-out records. The missing piece is enforcement.

Both cases highlight how insurance cushions sudden shocks such as storms, fires, and cancellations that could otherwise bankrupt organisers or trigger lengthy disputes with vendors.

‘Politicians insure weddings, but not public events’

The irony, the broker noted, is that “I haven’t seen politicians insure for their public events, but a few have insured for the private weddings of their family members.”

Political rallies, which by definition pull tens of thousands into confined spaces and carry enormous crowd-management risks, remain outside the ambit of insurance. Part of the hesitation is cultural, say insurers as parties see themselves as mass movements rather than event managers. Part is structural, where some policies exclude riots or politically motivated violence, leading to confusion over what counts as an insurable peril.

Also read: Karur tragedy I A heart-broken father mourns his son, who took leave to see Vijay

But the end result is the same: when tragedy strikes, the state steps in with ex-gratia payments, and the financial burden shifts back onto taxpayers.

A trail of deadly stampedes

Karur is only the latest in a grim list. In July 2024, 121 people died at a religious gathering in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. In January 2025, around 30 pilgrims were crushed at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. Just weeks later, 18 were killed in a rush at New Delhi railway station. And in June 2025, 11 fans died in a crowd crush outside Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium before an IPL felicitation event.

Each tragedy reignites calls for better crowd management and mandatory insurance, only for those calls to fade until the next disaster. Experts say the solutions are straightforward. Event insurance products already exist with wide coverage bands, tailored limits, and proven pay-out records. Insurers even accept per-person and per-accident liability caps, which can make cover affordable for smaller organisers. The missing piece is enforcement.

Also read: Karur stampede exposes ugly face of roadshow politics; is anyone listening?

Insurers say state governments could require proof of insurance as a condition for granting permissions to hold large gatherings, the same way organisers must now secure police clearances and fire-safety checks. Meera at Oriental summed it up best when she said, “There is insurance for nearly every eventuality."

In other words, the tools are already in the toolbox, but it is enforcement that's lacking.