C.B. Gopal Reddy, a nonagenarian, was taking a nap in his flat at Bairagipatteda, a residential area in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, when his house help, Revathi, jolted him awake around 8.30 p.m. on January 8.
Even as Revathi began explaining to him about a commotion at Padmavati Park in their locality, he heard the unsettling sound of the ambulances entering the area and reaching the park where nearly 2,000 devotees of Lord Venkateswara have been anxiously waiting since morning.
The devotees, who came from various parts of India, gathered at the park as they waited for officials to allow them into the Rama Naidu Municipal Corporation School. There, they were to be issued the Vaikunta Ekadasi darshan tokens for Tirumala temple, the largest Hindu temple in the world.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) announced that 1.2 lakh darshan tokens would be issued for three days from January 10 to 12. The tokens were to be issued from 5 a.m. on January 9. However, scores of devotees began turning up in the temple city a day in advance, on January 8.
Rama Naidu Municipal Corporation School was one of the eight token centres that the TTD, the administrative body of the temple, chose for the annual event.
Big rush at small locality
Gopal Reddy, however, was surprised to see hundreds of devotees turn up at his locality, which is not known to many non-locals. He assumed that the token centre was set up to cater to the locals of the temple city.
Little did he or his neighbours know that the devotees were ferried to the area by autorickshaws. The devotees say that they were told by the auto drivers that they were more likely to get the tokens at this centre as it was unknown to many and that the rush was less there.
To the devotees’ disappointment, the rush began peaking by the evening, and around 8.25 p.m., the entry of police into the park triggered commotion, which quickly escalated into a stampede, causing the death of six people.
“We make four trips to Tirumala every year. This is our first trip in 2025. This is also the first time I’m leaving the place without having a darshan and I’m returning home to Visakhapatnam with my husband’s body”Mani KumariDevotee from Visakhapatnam
An inconsolable Mani Kumari, wife of Naidu Babu, 55, who died in the stampede says, “We make four trips to Tirumala every year. This is our first trip in 2025. This is also the first time I’m leaving the place without having a darshan and I’m returning home to Visakhapatnam with my husband’s body.”
Clad in traditional yellow dhoti and shirt, K. Venkatesh, the husband of K. Shanti, another victim, wryly remembered how he had been taking the ‘Govinda Mala’ for the last fifteen years only to take his wife’s dead body from the temple city this year. (The Govinda Mala includes observance of abstinence for 41 days. The vow is relinquished by getting a darshan at the Tirumala temple on Vaikunta Ekadasi.)
Six people, including S. Lavanya (38), K. Shanti (33) and G. Rajani (47) from Visakhapatnam, B. Naidu Babu (55) from Narsipatnam, and V. Nirmala (53) of Pollachi, and Malliga (50) of Mettur from Tamil Nadu lost their lives in the stampede that night, marking a black day in the history of Tirupati.
It is only the second major tragedy that ever happened in Tirupati after the stampede that occurred inside the Tirumala temple on August 12, 1967, in which thirteen pilgrims were killed.
What happened that day
Appa Rao, a devotee who waited at the park and fled the spot during the stampede, recalls the events of the day that led to the tragedy: “Someone in the park fell very sick and needed medical attention. It was then that the security officials made an announcement through the handheld microphone asking the devotees to make way for the policemen who were on their way to rescue the person.”
Devotees jostle each other as the crowd surges towards the ticket issuing centre. | Photo Credit: K.V. POORNACHANDRA KUMAR
“The announcement was lost in the din when the barricades erected were moved to make way for the police to get in. A surge of devotees breached the barriers and ran towards the queue line,” he adds.
“The overenthusiastic devotees misunderstood the situation. Many believed the announcement was about the issuance of tokens and started moving towards the gate. The devotees, who have become restless after the long wait, were in no mood to pay attention to the announcements made appealing to them to observe restraint and sit calmly,” say TTD authorities.
Chaos ensued, and in a span of two minutes, a stampede occurred. Many fell unconscious due to breathlessness. The police and staff on duty rescued some by performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).
Stampede victims being shifted into an ambulance at Padmavati Park. | Photo Credit: K.V. POORNACHANDRA KUMAR
After waiting for 15 minutes for the ambulance, the victims were taken to Sri Venkateswara Ramnarain Ruia Government General Hospital (SVRRGGH). Some were shifted to Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), a TTD-run super specialty hospital.
Government action
Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, several State Cabinet Ministers and former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy visited Tirupati the next day and called on the victims recovering at the hospital.
After consultations with the TTD’s Chairman B.R. Naidu, Executive Officer J. Syamala Rao, Additional EO Ch, Venkaiah Chowdary, Collector S. Venkateswar and Tirupati SP L. Subbarayudu, the Chief Minister, concluded that there was laxity on the part of the staff handling the centre. Chandrababu Naidu ordered the suspension of Deputy Superintendent of Police Ramana Kumar, who was the security in-charge of the centre, and TTD’s Sri Venkateswara Gosamrakshanasala (Dairy Farm) Director K. Haranath Reddy, who was bestowed with the overall responsibility of managing the centre.
The Chief Minister also announced the transfer of SP Subbarayudu, TTD Joint EO M. Gowthami, an IAS officer and TTD’s Chief Vigilance and Security Officer (CV&SO) S. Sreedhar. He also ordered a judicial probe into the incident.
TTD preparedness
The TTD management says it got into preparedness mode a fortnight ahead of the holy event. This year’s schedule and protocol were similar to those of last year’s.
The three main centres which issue tickets 365 days a year, viz., Srinivasam pilgrim complex (near central bus station), Vishnu Nivasam pilgrim complex (near railway station) and Bhudevi complex (Alipiri, the foot of Tirumala hills) were ready with 12, 14 and 11 counters respectively.
Makeshift centres were created at Jeevakona Zilla Parishad High School (with 10 counters), Muthyala Reddy Palle Zilla Parishat High School (8 counters), Ramachandra Pushkarini (10 counters), Rama Naidu High School, Bairagipatteda (10 counters), Indira Maidanam (15 counters) and Balaji Nagar community hall at Tirumala (4 counters, for Tirumala residents only).
The district police and TTD’s vigilance wing were required to take care of crowd management, once the devotees are let inside the centres. The two institutions deputed a Deputy Superintendent of Police cadre official and an Assistant Vigilance and Security Officer (TTD), respectively, at every centre. Instructions had also been issued to them to independently take a call on when to allow the devotees into the centres.
Flaw in crowd management
However, at Bairagipatteda, the coordination between the officials seems to have failed utterly. At this centre, the queue line was long enough to accommodate 750 pilgrims, and the holding area was sufficient to hold 1,500 persons. If necessary, the queue line could be extended using ropes to accommodate another 750 people.
In addition to a Deputy Superintendent cadre official to head the Bairagipatteda centre, the district police deputed four Inspectors, 14 Sub-Inspectors, 92 civil forces, and two special party police for crowd management. Similarly, the TTD’s in-house vigilance wing deputed an SPF inspector, two Reserve Sub-Inspectors, and 39 personnel.
The TTD’s vigilance sleuths are well-versed in crowd management at Tirumala. Similarly, the civil police are known to handle mobs that push and jostle, especially during processions, fairs, and festivals.
“The police of the two institutions could have easily formed the ‘first line of defence’ together in handling a paltry crowd of 2,000 persons, but ‘lack of coordination’ at the ground level led to the disaster, as observed even by the Chief Minister,” a senior police official told The Hindu.
“In spite of being given a free hand, the absence of cohesive action between the two entities was quite palpable, as the TTD’s officials were taking instructions from their CV&SO, while the civil police were waiting for orders from the district police head,” a TTD senior official says.
“The unfortunate incident happened as the forces deployed at the centre failed to gauge the pressure from the public and opened the park gate all of a sudden without prior announcement”J. Syamala RaoExecutive Officer, TTD
“The unfortunate incident happened as the forces deployed at the centre failed to gauge the pressure from the public and opened the park gate all of a sudden without prior announcement,” Syamala Rao says.
In fact, at the time of the stampede, the devotees had not entered the TTD’s token-issuing premises but were waiting in the adjacent park. They were only pushing ahead to secure entry into the holding point. Many wonder how the TTD officials could be held responsible for the stampede occurring in a public place (a park owned by the municipal corporation), which was clearly outside their purview.
The TTD Joint Executive Officer Gouthami, SP L. Subbarayudu and the TTD’s CV&SO S. Sreedhar oversaw all the nine centres and were involved in overall supervision of arrangements and crowd dynamics, besides physically visiting some centres upon receiving complaints.
Eyebrows are raised at fixing the responsibility on these supervisory authorities and cracking the whip by transferring them out, who had actually given blanket instructions down the line to take a call depending on the crowd situation at their respective centres.
Also, the TTD Dairy Farm Director K. Haranath Reddy, who was designated as the centre in-charge, was only taking care of the token issue counters and coordinating with the staff of TTD’s Information Technology wing on technical preparedness, though the axe inevitably fell on him.
In the aftermath, the TTD authorities stopped issue of tokens on the Srivarimettu trekking route during this ten-day period, which forced the devotees walking from the western side to come all the way into the city to get their tokens. This move has forced the pilgrims to walk for 12 more kilometres, besides adding pressure on the existing queue line infrastructure.
Also, the ‘No token – No darshan’ announcement, apparently meant to make the devotees fall in line and ensure order, went astray. The much-publicised decision instilled a sense of fear among the visiting pilgrims, who thronged the centres to ‘somehow’ grab their tokens.
After taking over the reins of the State and immediately after the row over the alleged use of adulterated ghee in preparing the famous ‘Tirumala Laddu Prasadam’, Chandrababu Naidu announced to initiate State-wide reforms in temple administration starting with Tirumala, but there has been no action so far.
As the kin of the stampede victims struggle to come to terms with their loss, Gopal Reddy, like the other residents of Bairagipatteda and Tirupati, wonders how deadly can crossing the line between devotional fervour and mob frenzy be as they mourn black day.
(Edited by Anupama M.)
Published - January 17, 2025 12:38 am IST
