Tirumala: Series of incidents in Tirumala - Central Home Department ready for review..!

Tirumala: Series of incidents in Tirumala – Central Home Department ready for review..!

The Central Home Department has seriously considered the developments taking place in Tirumala. It is ready to review the recent incidents like stampede and fire. For this, Additional Secretary of the Union Home Ministry, Sanjeev Kumar Jindal will come to Tirupati today (Sunday).

Review tomorrow…!

He will hold a meeting with TTD officials on Monday. To this extent, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Chairman B. Ashish V. Gavai, Director of the Disaster Management Department of the Home Ministry, has written a letter to R Naidu. The letter states that the stampede on January 8 and the fire on January 13 took place in the TTD temple complex. The letter mentioned that Sanjeev Kumar Jindal, Additional Secretary (Disaster Management), Union Home Ministry, will hold a meeting on 20th (Monday) of this month to review crowd control measures and security arrangements.

The letter states that Sanjeev Kumar Jindal will reach Tirupati on Sunday (January 19) at 8 pm. He will reach Tirupati by train number 20678 MGR Chennai Central Vande Bharat Express. In the letter, Sanjeev Kumar asked to arrange transportation and accommodation for Jindal.

It is known that on January 8, on the day of Vaikuntha Ekadashi, six people who were going to collect SSD tokens had died in a stampede. Many people were admitted to hospital with serious injuries. 90 counters have been set up at 8 centers in Tirupati. But thousands of devotees from the state and neighboring states were queuing up. But as soon as the gate opened, devotees rushed to collect the tokens. This caused a stampede.

On January 10, a fire broke out at a laddu counter in TTD. The staff present there suddenly became nervous. Especially in Tirumala, where Prasadam is distributed, a fire broke out due to the computer system at the 47th counter. The employees immediately informed the fire department. Then a short circuit occurred and a fire broke out. Dense smoke spread in the area. TTD personnel and fire brigade personnel reached the spot and brought the fire under control.

Hearing in High Court:

Andhra Pradesh High Court has heard a petition filed to order a judicial inquiry into the stampede and death of devotees in Tirupati. However, the AP High Court has expressed objection to the inclusion of the Secretary to the State Governor and the Chief Minister of the state as defendants in the case. He asked how he could be held responsible for the stampede incident. The High Court said that the Chief Secretary and other officers are the defendants on behalf of the government.

It directed the petitioner to remove the names of the Secretary to the Governor of the State and the Chief Minister of the State from the list of respondents. The State High Court made it clear that based on the objections raised by the Registry, the petition should be amended accordingly. Postponing the hearing till next Wednesday (January 22), Justice K. A bench of Justices Suresh Reddy and Justice Kuncham Maheswara Rao issued the orders.