VISAKHAPATNAM: Deputy Chief Minister and Endowments Minister Kottu Satyanarayana said that a committee has been formed to probe into the allegations of inconvenience caused to pilgrims during Chandanotsavam at the famous Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Simhachalam on April 23. Speaking to reporters in Visakhapatnam on Monday, the minister said that district collector A Mallikharjun would lead the probe panel.
“The unprecedented rush was caused due to the entry of devotees without maintaining the slot timings. Thousands of devotees thronged the temple for darshan, including a large number of VIPs. Over two lakh pilgrims visited the temple this year against our estimation of 1.5 lakh devotees. Moreover, the consecutive holidays also led to increase in number of visitors. However, neither major incident nor complaint was reported, barring delay in darshan by a couple of hours in a few queues,” the minister explained.
Satyanarayana said antaralaya (sanctum sanctorum) darshan was stopped as it was causing inconvenience to devotees. “There were no complaints with regard to Rs 300 and Rs 1,000 ticket holders. In all, 8,700 VIP tickets were issued besides Rs 1,500 tickets were allotted to temple employees.”
Stating that stampede and jostling wasn’t reported, the deputy CM said, there were complaints that Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500 tickets were issued more than the specified number. “The collector’s committee will go through these complaints and will suggest measures to improve facilities. Based on the report, we will initiate action,’’ the minister elaborated.
Regular EO will be appointed at Simhachalam temple soon: Min
Satyanarayana said elaborate arrangements were made for the smooth conduct of Chandanotsavam and that parking space was allotted for 8,500 cars and 10,000 two-wheelers. Asserting that Sarada Peetham seer Swaroopanandendra Saraswati did not find fault with the government over the arrangements made at the temple, he admitted that there were lapses by some officials leading to delay in the darshan.
He said there were no traffic snarls and that darshan was smooth between 4 am and 6.30 am. However, breakdown of a private car around 7 am and two private cars around 11 am led to traffic congestion. Later, an RTC bus got stuck in a sump causing traffic jam for some time. Officials attended to it immediately and traffic was restored, he said. “The district collector had personally monitored the flow of devotees in the queues and also inside the temple. There were no lapses in distribution of drinking water and buttermilk to devotees in queues,” he clarified.
He said a decision on the second ghat road would be taken after discussion with CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. “We will draw plans for new queues and additional parking space,” he said. Replying to a query, the minister added that a regular executive officer would be appointed for the temple soon.