For Basara temple staff, money is more important than devotees’ lives?

Amid constant cries of children aged between three and five years when devotees jostled each other to enter the premises, the temple staff refused to open the iron door saying that only those, who had purchased Rs.1,000 tickets for ‘Aksharabhyasam’ will be allowed inside the hall.

Despite the loud cries of children, the temple staffers remained adamant and refused to open the door. When irate devotees demanded to know whether they had any concern for children, the staffers hardly showed any empathy. In fact, they went on to say that money was important.

Enraged over the employee’s adamant attitude, a devotee holding his son on his shoulder showed the ticket and yet permission was denied. Left with no other option, the devotee’s family cursed their fate and left the temple without performing ‘Aksharabhyasam’ after seeking darshan of the Goddess.

A pregnant woman had a harrowing time because of the crowd. However, fortunately, other devotees came to her rescue to ensure she was in a safe place. Such was the chaotic situation inside the temple that many parents held their children on their shoulders to prevent kids from being manhandled. Even after repeatedly asking their names, the temple staff refused to reveal their identities and instead yelled at devotees, who continued to plead with them to the open door as children were crying.

“You can lodge a complaint with anyone,” was the reaction from the temple authorities. While it was completely chaotic all along the queue lines, the staff was least bothered about ensuring proper maintenance of queues and providing hassle-free darshan of Goddess Sri Saraswathi Devi.

“We visited the temple to complete the ‘Aksharabhyasam’ ritual of our two kids on Sunday. We are disappointed with the apathetic attitude of the staff,” said Y Akash Yadav from Langer Houz. No employee was seen regulating queues and the temple Executive Officer Vijaya Kumar was assisting a lone woman constable near the sanctum sanctorum.

With long weekend coupled with a public holiday on Monday on account of Bakrid, the temple witnessed a huge turnout. A large number of devotees from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and other States came to the temple to perform ‘Aksharabhyasam’ on Sunday and Monday considered auspicious—. Dhashami and Ekadhashi.

Sources said the sorry state of affairs that were occurring in the temple for a long time was due to the alleged monopoly of two senior employees Narayan Patel and T Vikas, who have been working at the same temple for years with the support of local politicians.

The duo, along with some staff, allegedly turned a deaf ear to instructions given by the higher officials leading to lack of coordination between employees thereby causing problems to devotees, sources added. When contacted, Vijaya Kumar did not respond as he was inside the temple, monitoring the queue.