The Andhra Pradesh Government stated that the families of the six devotees who died in the stampede on Wednesday night, January 8, during the distribution of tickets for a religious event at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple, would each receive Rs 25 lakh in compensation.
Following a visit by a ministerial delegation to Ruia Hospital to visit with the families of the deceased, Revenue Minister Satya Prasad made the announcement. Ministers Anita, Parthasarthy, and Anam Ramnarayan Reddy were among the delegation members that visited the injured at SVIMS Hospital.
The ministers described the event as unfortunate. They stated that investigations were underway to determine whether any hurried actions or a lack of coordination led to the tragedy. Home Minister Anita stated that the investigation is underway to determine whether it was an accident or a conspiracy.
She said that the CCTV footage will show whose mistakes caused the tragedy. Those deemed guilty will face severe consequences, the Home Minister stated. She went on to say that measures would be done to prevent similar situations from happening again. The ministers stated that following an autopsy, the victims’ bodies would be transferred to their respective communities.
Two of the victims were from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, while three were from Visakhapatnam and one from Narsipatnam.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) had set up stands to distribute tokens for the Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam during the yearly Vaikunta Ekadashi festival, which starts on January 10, when the stampede happened close to the Vishnu Nivasam temple in Tirupati.
Devotees were permitted a unique darshan of the deity through the northern door during the ten-day celebration. Although the token distribution was scheduled to begin on Thursday morning, thousands of devotees from different states had been waiting in line at the booths since Wednesday evening. Devotees rushed forward, causing the stampede, as one of the gates was opened to help a frightened woman which resulted in stampede.
