Chandrababu Naidu blasts TTD officials on Tirupati stampede, demands accountability

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu grilled TTD officials and police over the stampede, questioning the understanding of crowd dynamics and human psychology. He questioned the handling of crowd management, ambulance availability, and whether technology was used to prevent the incident.

In Short

• Naidu questioned TTD officials over the stampede at token centres
• He sought details of ambulance readiness and their arrival time
• Naidu stressed prevention of, not reaction to, any accidents

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu fiercely questioned Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officials and the police over the stampede incident at the Tirumala temple.

"Why did this happen?" Naidu asked pointedly, addressing the officials. "When were the tokens issued? What time did you make the arrangements? You need to answer that, no excuses," he said, highlighting the lapses in planning and execution.

The Chief Minister raised concerns over the numbers, questioning the decision to allow 4,500 people when only 2,000 were originally planned. "What instructions did you give the administration?" he asked, referring to the unexpected surge of people that led to the stampede.

Naidu also scrutinised the preparedness of the authorities, questioning the understanding of crowd dynamics and human psychology. "When you knew so many people were coming, don't you understand the crowd? Public psychology? Panic arises when large numbers gather. There is an urgency to get darshan," he said.

The Chief Minister then turned his focus to the medical response, demanding to know the location of the ambulances and the timing of their arrival. "When the accident happened, where were the ambulances kept? What time did they reach? Were there additional ambulances? When did the additional ambulance reach?"

The Executive Officer confirmed 1.2 lakh online tickets and 2 lakh offline tickets were issued, with arrangements similar to past occasions. Naidu, however, criticised this approach: "Why didn’t we change the pattern? Why didn’t we use technology?"

Naidu emphasised, "The administration is the one that can prevent it, not after it has happened."

The Chief Minister was speaking to the TTD officials at the administration office after his inspection visit at the scene of the accident.