A day after 6 people were killed in a stampede at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said religion is important in India and arrangements should be in place at religious gatherings to prevent loss of lives.
"People go (to religious places) not to die but to pray for their safety, nation and family. Government should see how people were killed in the stampede. And take care of arrangements at such places where a large number of people gather and such incidents don't happen again," he told reporters in Jammu.
"It is important as religion is important in India," he said.
Six people were killed in a stampede that broke out at Tirupati on Wednesday night during ticket distribution. 40 others were injured in the accident.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is holding a review meeting today. He will also meet the families of the deceased later in the day. Offline tokens for darshan are available at various distribution centres in Tirupati.
Tirupati Collector S Venkateswar said that all arrangements are in place for Vaikunth Ekadasi which begins from today. Vaikunta Dwara Darshan will be held at Tirumala Sri Venkateswara Temple from January 10 to 19. It is an opportunity for devotees to pass through the sacred gate and get Lord Venkateswara's blessings.
"...Elaborate arrangements were made by TTD and District Administration for Vaikunth Ekadasi this year. We had deployed sufficient police personnel at all the ticket counters (9) in Tirupati and (1) in Tirumala. We had also kept holding areas. At this particular place there was some communication gap over the gate opening. Unfortunate incident happened," the Tirupati Collector said.
Meanwhile, the offline tokens for darshan have been made available at various distribution centres set up in Tirupati.
