Tirupati stampede: CM Naidu announces judicial inquiry, FIRs registered

A day after six persons died in the Tirupati temple stampede the Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday announced a judicial inquiry into the incident that seems to have been the result of a policemans innocuous act of opening the gate with the intention of aiding a sick woman People were waiting to receive tokens for a holy event at the famous Lord Venkateswara Swamy shrine on Tirumala hills for January 10 when tragedy struckFollowing complaints by revenue officials two FIRs were registered in connection with the stampede which has also left dozens injured They were registered under Section 194 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita BNSS which deals with unnatural deaths a senior police official saidThe government announced an exgratia of Rs 25 lakh each to the kin of victims of a virtually unprecedented incident that prompted deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan to apologise to the nation and the Hindu communityHeads rolled after Chief Mininster N Chandrababu Naidu took serious note of the matter and sought accountability from officials concerned He visited the accident spot and also met the injured persons and comforted themSurvivors recounted horrific moments of the tragedy recalling the crowd surge that led to the stampede while some others complained of long waiting hours to get tickets for the Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam slated for FridayNaidu announced a judicial inquiry into the stampede and transferred three senior officials including the district Superintendent of Police One deputy SP who was on the spot has been suspendedExpressing grief over the Wednesday night incident Naidu also announced Rs 2 lakh to those injuredAddressing a press conference he also attacked the previous YSRCP for changing practices in the temple According to him a new system of issuing tokens was introduced by the previous regime in Tirupati as opposed to the earlier system of giving them in Tirumala hillsIn the past so many problems have come up We are correcting everything starting with prasadam consecrated food annadanam free food to devotees even cottages administration and everything All of a sudden this incident happened This incident also happened due to a legacy problem Never in my lifetime tokens were given in Tirupati for darshan to see the deity For the last five years they YSRCP introduced new practices Naidu said without directly naming the Jagan Mohan Reddyled partyHe further said he noticed some loopholes in the administration and monitoring mechanisms in Tirupati which should have been perfect Naidu also said no adequate precautions were taken while opening the gates and that triggered the incidentHe also urged there should be no politics over the incidentThe DSP reportedly opened the gate to help a sick woman come out of the area where the devotees were waiting However the crowd apparently thought that the gate had been opened and rushed out resulting in the stampedeA senior police official said the DSP should have opened the gate with utmost care and as per procedure His intentions might have beeen good But it caused a disaster he told PTIA survivor D Venkata Lakshmi said for five minutes we thought all of us were dead I have been coming to the temple for the past 25 years and it has never happened like this People rushed forward and up to 10 people fell where she was standing she saidNaidus deputy Pawan Kalyan said some devotees expressed doubts that the stampede must have been staged and that some policemen who should be the first responders did not act on timeTo the entire nation to the entire country to the entire Sanatani believers to Hindu Samaj from the state government side I profusely apologise my wholehearted apologies for what had happened It is the responsibility of the TTD EO executive officer and JEO he told reportersSenior YSRCP leader and former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams TTD chairman B Karunakar Reddy demanded that CM Naidu should own moral responsibility for the Tirupati stampede and initiate stringent action against the officials responsibleThe Congress state unit held the TTD that governs the Lord Venkatswara temple responsible for the tragedy and called for immediate probe into the incident Six devotees died and nearly 40 more were injured in the stampede at Bairagi Patteda near MGM School in Tirupati on Wednesday night as hundreds of them jostled for tickets for Vaikunta Dwara DarshanamThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever