It had been six years since G Chittamma, 50, stepped out of his village, about 30 kilometers from Kasibugga, a small town in Palasa mandal. Suffering from severe gastric illness, Chittamma was almost confined to her home and surroundings, unable even to help her husband Jagga Rao with agricultural work.
But for the last several months, his family was facing one misfortune after another. He had invested ₹20,000 on fertilizers, pesticides and tractor charges to cultivate paddy on the leased land, but recent rains caused by Cyclone Montha damaged his crop, and his only son, a lorry driver, was out of work for the past two months, draining the family’s income.
So, when Chittamma heard that a group of women from her village Nandigama was visiting the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Kasibugga on the occasion of Karthika Ekadashi on November 1, which had gained popularity as “Chinna Tirupati” among the people of North Andhra, she also decided to go.
She says, “After preparing lunch for my family, I joined the women going to the temple. We boarded the bus at 10 am and reached the temple junction by 11 am. The small town was already buzzing with devotees coming from different places.”
Chittamma and others accompanied a group of devotees gathered on the roads leading to the temple to the temple and had darshan. Coming out, Chittamma had just reached the stairs when the entrance was closed behind her because it was about to be noon, the time for Anna Bhogam (offering to the Lord). She recalls, “The temple had only one exit and entrance. Chittamma believes that someone already inside the temple might have reopened the entrance and tried to come out, causing a rush of devotees from outside as well.
Within minutes people started jostling for space and the barricades collapsed. “I fell down the stairs, and people started falling on each other from a height of about 10 feet; it was complete chaos. I vaguely remember four people trying to pull me out. When I regained consciousness, some people were giving me first aid. They broke a coconut brought by a devotee and gave me water and shifted me to the community health center a few minutes later,” she says, showing her broken right hand and badly injured leg. Are.
Chittamma was one of the 16 people injured in the stampede at the temple on November 1, in which nine people lost their lives. “All this happened in a matter of seconds. A few policemen or security guards present at the place could have prevented the incident,” says Chittamma, who is undergoing treatment at the Community Health Centre.
A few beds away from Chittamma, 45-year-old Chaudhary is lying in deep pain with both her legs broken. Kantamma. She went to the temple from Sarimipalli village in Mandasa mandal on a two-wheeler with her younger son Adi. She says, “There was a huge crowd and we were slowly moving towards the main entrance of the temple. I was climbing the stairs when suddenly people started running in the opposite direction. Before I could understand what was happening, I fell to the ground (from the edge of the stairs), and the stainless steel railing fell on me. I was thrown down by the rods and a group of devotees falling on them.”
Adi, who was a few feet away, ran to save him. He says, “I saw my mother falling and joined other youths to pull the women out. I pulled my mother and a few others out and took them to the hospital.” He further said that there were no policemen to control the crowd. “Both my legs are broken and I am not sure when I will recover,” says Kantamma.
security hole
The stampede at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Kasibugga, which was the worst incident of its kind in the state last year, has raised questions over the safety of devotees in temples managed by private individuals and the need for a standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent such tragedies.
The temple is managed by 94-year-old Hari Mukund Panda. Deprived of proper darshan of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala a decade ago, Panda started construction of the temple in Kasibugga, a town of over 50,000 inhabitants.
From the main road, one has to travel about 750 meters to reach the temple, which is spread over about 14 acres. Many structures, such as toilets, are still under construction; Only the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple, the temples of Lord Shiva and Nandi and the idols of Garuda and Hanuman have been completed. It opened to the public around May and quickly became a crowd puller, especially on Saturdays.
“Around 2,000 devotees started coming to the temple every Saturday. It being Kartika Ekadashi, the crowd swelled to more than 20,000,” says Panda. When asked why the police were not informed about the event, Panda says they did not expect such a large turnout.
Pandas are known for their philanthropy and social service. “Pandaji owns huge land in the city, including coconut groves and areas around the temple,” says P. Jagadish, a government school teacher and resident. The temple’s sudden fame was largely due to social media exposure. “Locals knew about the ongoing construction and knew its administrator, but during the inauguration of the temple, social media interviews went viral and started attracting devotees,” says Jagdish.
Another resident G. Usha Rani says that since pandas do not accept donations, devotees do voluntary service at the temple. She says, “That day, some volunteers were managing the crowd near the statues inside. They were making announcements through microphones, asking people to maintain the queue, but were unaware of what was happening on the stairs.”
Rani, who was serving water to devotees coming outside her house, recalls: “A woman told me about the stampede, and within a few minutes, an ambulance came near the main entrance, and a boy of about 13 years of age was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, he died.”
Palasa K K, an eyewitness to the Kasibugga stampede. Krishna says that from the main entrance to the stairs, there was no shade to protect the devotees from the scorching heat. The people, who had been fasting since morning, were tired and eager to enter the temple. “Most of the people were carrying small or big baskets or luggage, which made the situation worse. If their hands were free, they could support themselves or hold on to the wall,” he said. He adds, “There were no counters for devotees to deposit their luggage as the temple is still under construction.”
While people like Krishna tried to save others, autorickshaw driver Ranjala Harikrishna, 37, from Dharmapuram, Ichapuram, says there were others who showed no sympathy towards the victims. Harikrishna says in disbelief, “Eighteen of us had come in two autorickshaws for darshan when the stampede broke out. The railing fell on me and others. Four to five people fell on me, and I was trapped chest-deep under the pile. My legs were aching and I was suffocating. I extended my hand towards a man entering the temple for darshan, but he went away.”
Government response
Speaking to the media after visiting the site that day, IT Minister Nara Lokesh attributed the sudden increase of devotees to social media exposure and the availability of free bus travel for women. He said, “Nine out of ten devotees who came that day were for the first time. People came in small groups from every village and no one expected such a large number.” The minister assured that the government will continuously monitor privately built temples.
After the incident, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu directed all district collectors and superintendents of police to compile data on all temples (both privately managed and those falling under the Endowments Department), including major festival days and estimated crowds. He said that CCTV cameras and crowd management system would be made mandatory. Along with this, the government directed the Endowments Department to prepare SOPs for privately run temples to ensure safety during large gatherings. “Private temples should coordinate with local authorities before organizing public events,” he said.
Secretary (Revenue), Endowments Department, Hari Jawaharlal told The Hindu that they are in the process of drafting an SOP to prevent such incidents. “We are collecting data on private temples. Endowments, police and revenue department officials are collecting details from across the state,” he says.
Srikakulam Superintendent of Police KV Maheshwar Reddy says that this incident occurred due to a mistake in the construction of the temple. “The entry and exit are the same, and when a gate was suddenly opened, the devotees coming out fell on those entering the temple,” he says, adding that the stairs were poorly designed. “The slope of stairs in any temple or building should be less than 45 degrees. Here, it was even steeper than that. The devotees coming down were falling from the higher slope, so those below could not bear the pressure, leading to a stampede.”
Furthermore, the railing was weak. “The steel railing was made from 1 mm thick pipes and was installed only 2.5 inches deep. This forced them to give way,” he said. He further said that if the construction had been done properly the victims could have escaped with minor injuries. Police found that Panda had not appointed any professional contractor for the design and construction of the temple.
Asked about the alleged intelligence failure, the SP says each police station has 40-50 temples under its jurisdiction, each of which sees 500-1,000 devotees on auspicious days. He says, “Although there was no CCTV recording, our technical analysis shows that there was a crowd of 2,500-3,000 in the temple complex, including the stairs area. Around 500 people would have been on the stairs at the time of the incident.” Intelligence officials also say that a huge crowd would have gathered at the temple after hearing about the food distribution.
Whose responsibility is it?
While the government blames private management and unexpected rush of devotees, the opposition YSRCP holds the government responsible for the loss of lives and property. Former minister and YSRCP leader Perni Venkataramaiah says, “The government cannot distance itself from the matter by saying that the temple does not come under its purview. Law and order is a state subject, and it is the government’s responsibility to protect life.” “The government has not learned from past mistakes.”
In the last year, a total of 13 people lost their lives in two other temple tragedies. In January, six devotees were killed and more than 25 injured in a stampede at a token issuance counter in Tirupati during the Vaikuntha Ekadashi festival. Then in April, seven devotees died when a wall collapsed on the Chandanotsavam day at the Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Simhachalam, Visakhapatnam.
In both incidents, small errors resulted in tragic loss of life. The stampede in Tirupati was believed to have been caused by a police officer suddenly opening a gate, while the Simhachalam tragedy was attributed to the collapse of a new wall in heavy rain.
