VIJAYAWADA: Squarely blaming Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, temple, police, and revenue officials for the stampede, YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said the sanctity of the TTD has been degraded and never before such an incident took place.
Speaking to media after consoling the injured at the hospital, Jagan said that the entire police force was deployed for Chandrababu’s Kuppam tour for three days, and there was no police for crowd management, which led to the stampede.
Naidu, EO, Additional EO, TTD Chairman, SP, and Collector should take responsibility for the incident, in which six persons died and nearly 50 persons were injured, and an exgratia of Rs 50 lakh should be paid to the kin of each deceased person, and Rs 5 lakh should be given to the injured after they get discharged from hospital, the YSRCP chief demanded.
He said every year lakhs of devotees come for Vaikunata Ekadasi as the Vaikunta Dwaram would be opened and arrangements should have been in place as it has been the practice, but this time there was negligence. “This shows how the coalition leaders and TTD top brass treat the devotees who came from far and wide for darshan,” Jagan said.