(MENAFN- AsiaNet News)

Founder Blames 'Unexpected Large Turnout'

Founder of Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Andhra Pradesh's Kasibugga, in which nine people were killed in a stampede on November 1, said that the mishap took place due to an unexpected large turnout of devotees. "Yesterday, I told the devotees to go inside the temple, but suddenly a large number of devotees came together at a time and we could not control it. We have not provided any information to the police... Whenever I am there, usually devotees enter there one by one and worship..." Hari Mukunda Panda, 95, said.

He further said that the police was not informed about the event at the temple on the ocassion of Ekadashi. "We haven't provided any information to the police. There's no need to inform the police every week for control purposes, as we usually manage things ourselves. The devotees generally listen to us. However, yesterday we were unable to control the crowd - we hadn't expected such a large turnout."

Minister Cites Lack of Crowd Management

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh said that an "unknown amount of rush" at Venkateswara Swamy Temple led to a "lot of suffocation" and sadly resulted in the stampede due to a lack of crowd management.

On Saturday, he had said, "Being Ekadashi, like never before, pilgrims came here. They wanted to take the blessings of the Lord. This is a private temple. From morning 6 to afternoon 12, they perform darshans. Then, they take a break, and again at 3 pm, they reopen the temple. The temple has clearly two ways - one is entry and the other is exit."

CM Expresses Anguish Over Tragedy

Lokesh described the incident as "unfortunate," that the shrine has both an entry and an exit. One child was among the nind people who were killed in the stampede at the temple on Saturday. The injured were immediately shifted to nearby hospitals for treatment.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect for the victims at Praja Vedika. He expressed deep anguish over the tragedy and said the incident that occurred at Kasibugga was extremely painful. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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