An unexpected surge of crowd of devotees and poorly-organised amenities at the Sri Yellamma Pochamma Devastanam at Balkampet here for the annual Kalyanotsavam triggered a stampede-like situation on Tuesday afternoon.
Several places in the queue outside the overcrowded temple showed devotees suffocating and fainting. The police personnel and others carried out older men and women and some were administered Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and oral rehydration. However, no casualties were reported.
According to temple officials, all of a sudden a large number of devotees jumped the queue in the open area and rushed to the narrower area near the deity, in an attempt to witness the Kalyanotsavam, which led to the cascading crowding.
Aggrieved devotees said the VIP/VVIPs devotees were prioritised and that was the reason that the seven general queue lines, which started at around 4 a.m., were kept on hold. The police later created queue lines with ropes to streamline the flow of devotees.
“The organisers should have made separate queues for us Shiva Sathulu, and the elderly. Senior citizens falling down, gasping and being carried for medical help is not a happy sign,” a group of Shiva Sathulu (devotees of Shiva) from Sholapur, Maharashtra said. According to belief, Shiva Sathulu are the legatees of devotees who discovered the self-evident Goddess in the well.
Among the affected devotees were women and children who fainted feeling giddy due to hot weather and poor ventilation, lack of adequate drinking water facilities and first-aid being out of reach.
According to Ameerpet corporator K. Sarala, devotees were inconvenienced as the numbers were high this year. Among the various reasons, she said, were poor prioritizing of devotee amenities over protocol business of various departments.
Among the VVIPs who visited the Kalyanaotsavam was Minister for Animal Husbandry Talasani Srinivas Yadav and his family, former legislator from Sanathnagar Marri Shashidhar Reddy and GHMC Mayor Gadwal Vijaya Lakshmi, among others.
For Ms. Lakshmi, who wrote on Twitter, it had been a happy darshan.
