Tirupati: Two Andhra Pradesh officials have been suspended over the stampede on Wednesday (Jan 8) that claimed the lives of six devotees during the Vaikuntha Ekadashi ticket distribution in the south Indian temple town of Tirupati. 

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The Tirupati stampede also injured 40 other devotees. 

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Officers suspended 

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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in a statement announced that a judicial inquiry would be ordered so that a thorough investigation could be conducted into the incident.

The inquiry would provide a detailed report on the same, he said.

“A Judicial inquiry will be ordered into the incident to submit a detailed report.”

He said two officials — Goshala director Arunadh Reddy and one police personnel — have been suspended, and “SP, AEO Gautami and one more person are being transferred”.

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He acknowledged that the security arrangements for crowd management had “failed”, but said he was not “blaming anyone”.

“I'm not blaming anyone. I've been in politics for the last 45 years. Security was deployed, but more precautions should have been taken. The officials who were deployed failed. If they had released them half an hour or one hour prior, this wouldn't have happened. Better coordination is required,” said the Andhra Chief Minister.

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Jagan Reddy says tragedy could've been avoided

Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party in a statement said that the tragic Tirupati stampede could have been avoided.

He pointed out that the “crowd for Vaikuntha Ekadashi is expected every year,” and asked, “Why were there no proper arrangements at the ticket counters? Why was security not deployed?”

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“This incident could have been avoided if the administration and police had acted systematically. TTD, district administration, and police had failed in their responsibilities. Despite anticipating the crowd, poor planning and coordination resulted in the tragedy…”

(With inputs from agencies)