Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 9: A pall of gloom descended over SVIMS super specialty hospital and SVR Ruia Government General Hospital campuses in Tirupati over the death of six devotees in a stampede for tokens late on Wednesday, just two days ahead of the auspicious ‘Vaikunta Ekadasi’ darshan of the famous Tirupati Tirumala temple in Andhra Pradesh.
Of the 41 admitted in the two hospitals after sustaining injuries in the stampede, 20 were discharged after treatment, while 21 others are being treated for grave injuries, including bone fracture. All the injured were shifted from SVR Ruia to the TTD-run SVIMS hospital for better treatment.
The state Government has announced an ex-gratia of ₹25 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased in the stampede in the centres meant to distribute tokens for Vaikunta Ekadasi darshan. The chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the Minister for Revenue Anagani Satya Prasad, who is in charge of Tirupati district, and several other ministers visited the stampede site and also the hospital and announced the compensation.
The meticulous planning and near-perfect execution of arrangements made by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) ahead of the Vaikunta Ekadasi festival could not prevent the stampede in view of the unprecedented heavy rush for the darshan a day ahead of the scheduled issue of tokens.
The TTD management had opened 94 counters in nine centres across Tirupati/Tirumala. Vaikunta Dwara Darshan (entry through the celestial threshold) has been announced for ten days ie., from January 10 to 19. Arrangements were in place for the distribution of 1,20,000 tokens to devotees for the “sarva darshan” (free darshan) of Lord Venkateshwara Swamy for the first three days of the annual darshan on January 10 to 12.
The issue of tokens was officially scheduled to start at 5 a.m. on January 9 for darshan on January 10 (Friday). To secure the tokens, devotees gathered at the centres right from Wednesday afternoon and firmed up their position in the queue line. However, with the rush increasing and the devotees turning impatient, pushing and jostling was witnessed at Ramachandra Pushkarini, Mahati auditorium, Jeevakona and Bairagipatteda centres. Policemen deployed at the centres to control the crowd had a tough time in ensuring order, as the devotee surge continued to increase by every passing hour, leading to the death of a woman devotee at Bairagipatteda centre.
The Tirupati Municipal Commissioner N Moruya said the situation went out of control at the counter set up at MGM High School in Bairagipatteda, near the Vishnu Nivasam temple. Around 4,000-5,000 people thronged the counter from Wednesday morning. By the evening, the crowd became unruly, leading to pushing and jostling.
According to BR Naidu, chairman of TTD, when a gate was opened to assist a woman feeling unwell, the crowd surged forward all at once, leading to chaos. Lack of adequate arrangements to manage the crowds resulted in a stampede late Wednesday evening, in which at least six devotees died and over 40 were injured. Tirupati Collector S Venkateswar said it took around 15 minutes to control and evacuate the crowd.
The festival allows devotees to pray to the deity Lord Venkateswara from the northern entrance of the temple.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has been observing the Vaikunta Ekadasi event, falling on January 10 this year, in the form of a ten-day event in the recent years by keeping the sacred threshold ‘Vaikunta Dwaram’ open for ten days. Devotees consider it a ‘divine experience’ to walk through this threshold. This is based on the practice followed in Srirangam temple, which also helped spread the crowd for ten days.
The Slotted Sarva Darshan (SSD) tokens are normally issued at Srinivasam, Vishnu Nivasam and Bhudevi complexes in Tirupati. For the special occasion, the TTD opened counters in five more centres in the city viz., Indira Maidanam, Bairagipatteda, Jeevakona, M.R. Palle and Ramachandra Pushkarini, besides one at Tirumala for the benefit of the local residents.
A whopping 1.20 lakh tokens were meant to be distributed at these centres from 5 am on Jan 9 for darshan on Jan 10, 11 and 12, i.e., allowing 40,000 devotees on each day. In view of the stampede-like situation, the authorities decided to open the counters by Wednesday night itself, instead of 5 am on Thursday, causing confusion. The centres were opened after the stampede and the 1.2 lakh tokens were exhausted within a few hours.
With no work on hand after the issue of tokens for the first three days, the TTD has decided to close down the centres for the next two days and open them up on January 12, for issue of tokens pertaining to January 13 darshan (one day in advance).
However, going by the past records, it has been amply established that devotees preferred to have darshan only on the first two days i.e., Vaikunta Ekadasi and Vaikunta Dwadasi, and swarmed the queue lines for the tokens for these days. Even last year, the token distribution centres painstakingly developed by the TTD across the city had fewer takers than expected.