Gudivada Amarnath expresses concern over Tirupati stampede

Visakhapatnam: Terming it as a ‘black day’ in the history of TTD, former IT Minister Gudivada Amarnath held the government responsible for the loss of lives in the stampede that occurred at the Vaikunta Dwara Sarva Darshan centre in Tirupati.

Pointing out the failure on part of the administration at a media conference held in Visakhapatnam on Thursday, Amarnath said that of the six people who lost lives in the incident that took place on January 8, four belong to united Visakhapatnam district.

Some of the injured are in serious condition and the entire incident happened due to the negligence and total failure of administrative skills of the government and the TTD.

As ‘Vaikunta Ekadasi’ is considered the most auspicious day, Amarnath stressed that the TTD have to make appropriate arrangements keeping the crowd in view. “During YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure as Chief Minister, ‘Vaikunta Dwaram’ was kept open for 10 days facilitating a hassle free darshan at Tirumala. However, the coalition government is more focused on mudslinging, raking up controversies and blaming the then YSRCP government,” he criticised.

The former minister said incidents of stampede never occurred before and the TTD chairman soon after taking charge was busy giving political speeches rather than focusing on the duty. Amarnath demanded that action should be taken against those responsible for the incident and compensation should be paid to the victims.

Further, he criticised the coalition government for taking credit for the works initiated by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy during the Prime Minister’s visit to Visakhapatnam.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan did not speak a single word on Visakhapatnam Steel Plant privatisation issue during the PM’s visit, the former minister pointed out.