Chennai, Nov. 6: A state government decision to hand out flood relief for vast areas of north Chennai from a single venue today led to a stampede that killed six women and left 15 badly injured.

An impatient crowd of 10,000 had been waiting in the rain before Ambedkar College since last night, shoving and pushing to be ahead in the queue when distribution started at 10 am. A sudden, huge push from behind brought the gate down at 3.45 am.

“The rain had made the road slippery. The women at front fell down and were crushed under the feet of those behind in the pitch darkness,” said Kasthuri, neighbour of Ranganayaki, who lay semi-conscious with severe abdominal bleeding at Stanley Hospital.

“As I lay there, hundreds of feet stamped on my chest. It’s a miracle that I survived,” said Krishnaveni, another injured woman. “If only the distribution had taken place in the local ration shops, the tragedy could have been averted.”

The women who died, apart from 22-year-old Jailani, were all aged over 50. Most were housewives from the labourer-dominated Vysarpadi, desperately in need of the dole: Rs 2,000 in cash, 10 kg of rice, one litre of kerosene, a sari and a dhoti for each family.

“There was nobody to help us,” sobbed Ranganayaki’s 20-year-old son Chandru, a barber. “We hauled the injured into a few share autos and brought them here.”

“Ranganayaki had been running around for the last three days to collect her coupon, so she was at the gate as early as 1 am,” Kasthuri said.

To get the dole, flood victims had to produce a coupon issued by a relief officer against their ration cards ? a process allegedly mired in bribery.

“I lost my ration card, my purse and my umbrella in the melee,” said a weeping Jayalakshmi, who had brought her injured friend Valarmathi to the hospital.

Chief minister Jayalalithaa blamed the tragedy on “mischievous elements spreading rumours that today was the last day for receiving the dole”. She announced Rs 1 lakh each for the family of the dead and Rs 15,000 for the injured.

As state ministers rushed to the hospital to be seen consoling the victims, the Opposition Congress and the PMK condemned the bungling of the relief operations and demanded a judicial inquiry.

Water-borne diseases claimed three lives in the city today, raising the post-flood toll to nine.