On Thursday, Andhra Pradesh announced help of Rs 25 lakh (2.5 million) for families of six devotees who tragically lost their lives in a stampede at the popular Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirupati.
The incident happened on Wednesday night when gates opened to give out tokens for a special 10-day event called Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam, which started on Thursday.
On Thursday, state officials, including Revenue Minister A. Satyaprasad and Home Minister Anita, visited the families to express their condolences and promised that an investigation would find out what went wrong.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a meeting with key officials from the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD) to discuss the tragedy. He was very upset and wanted to know how six people could die when the crowd should have been controlled.
Naidu pointed out that the TTD allowed 2,500 devotees inside, even though the space could only hold 2,000 people. The executive officer claimed that there was no crowding and that devotees were sitting peacefully until they were let out all at once, causing the stampede.
The Chief Minister ordered a full investigation and promised action if anyone was found to be careless. He also told officials to make sure such accidents do not happen again. The stampede happened near the ticket center as devotees rushed to get their tokens. Many had come from around the country to experience the special blessing during these 10 days. TTD Chairman BR Naidu described the stampede as an unfortunate accident.
Leave a Reply