Tirupati Temple Stampede: At least Six devotees lost their lives, and over 40 sustained injuries in a stampede on Wednesday night at the Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple on Tirumala Hills. The chaos erupted as crowd waiting for tokens for the Vaikuntha Dwara Sarvadarshanam, spiraled out of control, officials said.
Hundreds of devotees from across the country gathered for tickets of the annual Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam (a special 10-day darshan set to begin on Friday, January 10).
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have expressed grief over the tragedy.
Naidu wrote in a Telugu post on X, “The death of several devotees in a stampede near Vishnu Niwasam in Tirupati for tokens to visit Tirumala Srivari Vaikuntha Dwara has grieved me intensely. This tragic incident, which took place at a time when devotees had gathered in large numbers for tokens, deeply disturbed me.”
What Happened At Tirupati Temple
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages temple operations, had arranged special counters to distribute tokens for the Vaikunta Ekadasi festival on January 9. These tokens allowed devotees to visit Lord Venkateswara and were being distributed at MGM High School in Bairagipatteda, near the Vishnu Nivasam temple in Tirupati.
Thousands of devotees started gathering at the counters from Wednesday morning. By evening, the crowd became uncontrollable, leading to pushing and jostling.
As per the statement from the office of TTD Chairman BR Naidu cited by ANI, CM Naidu is closely monitoring the incident and has expressed “dissatisfaction with the officials’ management during a teleconference.”
In talks with a vernacular news channel, BR Naidu said, “A DSP opened the gates…and immediately everybody pushing ahead led to this stampede and reports are emerging that six persons died.”
TTD said that said one body has been identified while the others are yet to be identified.
“The Chief Minister will visit the families of the deceased tomorrow at 11:45 am. CM has warned that such incidents should not be repeated and is closely monitoring updates on the issue,” he added.
A TTD board member hinted at administrative lapses behind the stampede, stating, “There is some suspicion that it happened due to (the temple) administration.” He also noted that the Chief Minister would visit Tirupati on Thursday to meet the injured.
Calling the incident ‘unfortunate,’ TTD board member Bhanu Prakash apologised to devotees. “There was some lacuna, and stringent action will be taken, but lost lives cannot be brought back,” he said.
Videos of police personnel performing CPR on women devotees and injured individuals being transported in ambulances have gone viral.
Bureau Report
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