Bairagipatteda Stampede Exposes TTD’s Porous Token, Safety Protocols

Tirupati: The stampede on January 8 during distribution of tokens at the MGM School centre in Bairagipatteda for Vaikunta Dwara Darshan has raised serious concerns about the crowd-management policies of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).

This is the first time in history that the TTD, an organisation that manages millions of devotees annually, has faced such a devastating incident that claimed six lives.

Despite setting up barricades and counters for distributing Vaikunta Dwara Darshan tokens at eight places across Tirupati in accordance with TTD’s 2022 protocols, the holding points at Bairagipatteda failed to accommodate the hundreds of devotees who had rushed for the tokens, leading to chaos and deaths, thereby exposing major flaws in devasthanam’s crowd management capabilities.

Information flowing in after the tragedy suggests that Bairagipatteda site lacked necessary infrastructure and manpower to handle the large crowd, unlike the other seven centres in Tirupati. Witnesses say large numbers of devotees and locals had been allowed into the park simultaneously, leading to a bottleneck.

The situation worsened due to a shortage of Srivari Seva volunteers and police constables. Despite the crowd and pressure building up, those in queues had been reluctant to leave their places in the line for fear of losing their spot. Many devotees reported a lack of arrangements for basic necessities like food and water.

In response to the tragedy, Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu visited the site on Thursday and strongly criticised the handling of the situation. He accused TTD and district officials of failing to manage the crisis effectively. He rejected their explanation that the stampede occurred due to the opening of a gate for a medical emergency, questioning why alternative routes had not been prepared and why the behaviour of the crowd had not been anticipated.

The CM announced a suspension of DSP Ramana Kumar and TTD’s SV Dairy Farm director Harinatha Reddy. Those transferred include Tirupati SP L. Subbarayudu, TTD JEO M. Gowthami, and TTD CV&SO S. Sreedhar.

Naidu specifically held DSP Ramana Kumar accountable for failure of the security and criticised Harinatha Reddy for poor crowd management plans.

The tragedy has highlighted the urgent need for better crowd management, coordination among authorities, and a revamp of TTD’s token distribution system. Observers say with better planning, foresight and communication, the incident could have been avoided. The tragic event exposes critical flaws in current practices and calls for a complete overhaul of protocols to ensure the safety of devotees during future events.