The Andhra Pradesh state government has ordered an inquiry into the stampede incident in Tirupati. Retired High Court judge Justice Satyanarayana Murthy has been appointed for this inquiry. It has been asked to conduct the inquiry and submit a report within 6 months.
On the occasion of Vaikuntha Ekadashi, TTD has set up token centers in Tirupati for Vaikuntha Dwara darshan. However, on the 8th of this month, 6 people died and up to 50 devotees were injured in a stampede at the tokens set up in Padmavati Park.
The stampede, which was unprecedented in TTD history and the loss of six lives, has drawn a lot of criticism on the TTD and the coalition government. Accusations were also leveled for continuation of the unwarranted tradition of Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan for 10 days, which was started by previous YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s regime, as against the normal traditional practice of two days.
Soon after the incident, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan rushed to Tirupati, visited the injured who were being treated in the hospital and consoled them. Financial assistance of Rs. 25 lakh each was announced for the families of the deceased. Financial assistance of Rs. 5 lakhs was announced for the two seriously injured and Rs. 2 lakhs for those with minor injuries.
Tirupati SP Subbarayudu, DSP, assistant director of the cow shelter and others were transferred from there, citing the failure of the police and officials in this stampede. Pawan Kalyan openly lamented lack of coordination among TTD Trust Board Chairman, EO and AEO and demanded them to extend public apology for this sad incident.
TTD Chairman BR Naidu, who had first refused to say apology, within hours took U turn and conveyed his apology for the incident. In the presence of the Chief Minister itself both Chairman and Executive Officer blaming each other had created rough weather in the media on the state of affairs at TTD. The Chief Minister has also scolded them and directed them to mend their ways.
This incident also led to political uproar after the YCP chief and former chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy blamed the failure of the coalition government in managing the world famous Tirumala temple.
