'Act of god' behind stampede? What owner of Andhra temple said
The 95-year-old member of an Odisha royal family reportedly built the temple costing him ₹10 crore.
A day after at least 10 people were killed in a stampede at Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh, 95-year-old man who built the temple said that he did not expect so many people would visit the site. Media reports quoted 95-year-old Harimukund Panda saying that the temple never witnessed a crowd of this magnitude in the past.
Preliminary reports also suggested that a crowd surge on the occasion of Ekadashi led to the stampede, while Andhra minister Nara Lokesh also cited an “unknown amount of rush” and “a lot of suffocation” as the reason for the stampede at Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Andhra Pradesh.
The minister said that the temple had both entry and exit gates; however, due to the rush, the entry point was closed, and people thought they could use the exit route, which led to suffocation.
‘Act of god’
“Nobody is responsible, it was an act of god,” Panda, who built the temple four years ago, was quoted as saying The Times of India. A case has been registered against him as the probe is on in the stampede case.
“Every day, devotees come. They have darshan and leave. I thought it would be the same today. Suddenly, a huge crowd came. They pushed the gates and left. Every day, 3,000 to 4,000 devotees come to the temple. They have darshan comfortably. No one says anything. Everyone goes in line. They take prasadam, eat, and leave. That didn't happen today. A huge crowd came at once. I don't know where all these people came from. 4,000 devotees come every day. I alone maintained all of them. I used to tell everyone to go carefully. Those who went would have darshan and leave. Today, a huge crowd came. The police didn't tell them, no one told them. People came all at once,” he was quoted as saying by Telugu media.
Panda reportedly built the temple that cost him ₹10 crore after he visited Tirumala Srivari and had bitter experience due to the crowd as he said people there were pushing and shoving each other.
According to reports, Panda comes from a royal family in Odisha and built the temple on 12 acres out of the 50 acres that he owns.
What caused the stampede?
“At 11.30 am, because there was an unknown amount of rush, the entry point was closed. Many people who attended felt that they could use the exit route. That created a lot of suffocation. The entry has steps, so the person on the top tripped and fell; this resulted in a cascading effect. Also, the queue planners were not prepared for such a crowd,” Andhra minister Nara Lokesh told reporters.
The majority of those who died were women, he said, adding that he reached out to an MLA and a minister immediately after learning about the incident. “We have a WhatsApp group for real-time governance, which also has the disaster management minister. We reached out to the Home Minister. From there, we coordinated the entire rescue operation. We worked exceptionally hard to save as many lives as possible,” he said.
