Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Visits Tirupati Stampede Spot

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday visited the stampede spot in Tirupati that claimed the lives of six devotees and pulled up officials for failing to make proper arrangements for the distribution of tokens for an annual event at Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple.

Soon after landing at Renigunta Airport, the Chief Minister drove to Vishnu Nivasam and later to Padmavati Park, where two separate incidents of stampede took place.

Accompanied by ministers, he went around the two places and asked officials including the District Collector, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Executive Officer, Joint Executive Officer and police officials why they failed to anticipate a huge turnout of devotees and accordingly make arrangements.

Visibly unhappy with the officials, the Chief Minister inquired about the incident and the arrangements made by the TTD and district administration for the distribution of tokens for the Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam.

The Chief Minister asked TTD Executive Officer Shyamala Rao why he did not use technology and took other steps for crowd control for the smooth conduct of the token distribution.

CM Naidu told TTD officials to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in future. The Chief Minister later visited TTD-run SVIMS Hospital and called on the injured.

He assured them that the government would extend all possible help.

A total of 48 persons were injured in the stampede. They were initially shifted to SVR Ruia Hospital. Of them, 35 were shifted to SVIMS Hospital for better treatment.

Meanwhile, police registered two cases in connection with the stampedes at Padmavati Park and Vishnu Nivasam.

Earlier, Revenue Minister Anagani Satya Prasad, who is in charge of Tirupati district, visited the SVIMS hospital along with his cabinet colleagues and announced compensation of Rs 25 lakh each for the families of the people who died.

State Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha, Endowments Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Irrigation Minister Nimmala Rama Naidu and Information and Public Relations Minister K. Parthasarathy visited the hospital.

The bodies of the people who died were being sent to their home towns after autopsy. They were identified as S. Lavanya (38), Kandipalli Santhi (33), G. Rajini (47) (all from Visakhapatnam), Malliga (50) of Tamil Nadu), Buddeti Naidu Babu (55) of Narsipatnam and V. Nirmala (55) from Kerala.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)