Tirupati stampede: Andhra CM Naidu announces Rs 25 lakh compensation, promises action

Andhra Pradesh on Thursday announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh each for families of the six devotees who died in a stampede at the world-famous Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirupati.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night, after gates were opened to issue tokens for the 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam event, beginning Thursday.

On Thursday, Revenue Minister A. Satyaprasad and Home Minister Anita visited the families of the victims and the injured and assured them that investigations were underway to determine the cause of the stampede.


Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a review meeting with Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD) Chairman BR Naidu, executive officer Shyamala Rao, Collector Venkateswar, and SP Subbaraidu, and other officials. The CM took the TTD officials and the collector to task for the stampede that claimed six lives. He sought to know how they allowed the tragedy to occur.

Naidu was livid that an assessment of the number of devotees did not follow before the tokens were issued. He asked the TTD authorities to explain to him how they could allow 2500 devotees when there was space only for 2000.

The executive officer said there was no congestion and devotees were sitting peacefully. The stampede occurred when they were released in an uncontrolled manner.

The CM ordered an investigation, promised action if anyone was found negligent in the incident and warned officials to ensure such mishaps don’t occur. The stampede broke out near the Vaikunta Dwara darshan ticketing centre as devotees rushed to get their tokens. Hundreds of devotees had turned up from across the country to have darshan during the auspicious 10 days.

TTD chairman BR Naidu called the stampede an accident.