Mismanagement of queues led to chaos

UrbanScope

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posted on 12 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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TIRUMALA: Lack of coordination among officials coupled with confusion over the newly introduced darshan system resulted in the ch..

TIRUMALA: Lack of coordination among officials coupled with confusion over the newly introduced darshan system resulted in the chaos at Tirumala temple on Vaikunta Ekadasi on Thursday. Interestingly, the breakdown in queue management resulted in fewer devotees having the darshan from the Vaikunta Dwaram, which is thrown open only on Vaikunta Ekadasi.
While a large number of devotees could not reach Tirumala for the auspicious occasion in the aftermath of Thane cyclone, the mismanagement of queues ensured that those who did reach the shrine had a bitter experience. The mismanagement of the queues also resulted in the endowments minister and his family getting stuck in the crowd.

Barricades were erected all over the temple town in a hasty manner in just two days.

As against the normal turnout of 1.25 lakh devotees on Vaikunta Ekadasi, less than 65,000 devotees were able to have the darshan. Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam (TTD) executive officer LV Subrahmanyam admitted that the officials have failed to manage the queues and apologised to the pilgrims who were put to hardships.