The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) administrators have come under fire from Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan for “continuing to ignore the common pilgrims by nurturing the VIP-centric focus” notwithstanding the regime shift.
On January 9, 2025 (Thursday), the Deputy Chief Minister visited the stampede site at Bairagipatteda with Tirupati MLA Arani Srinivasulu, Joint Collector Subham Bansal, Superintendent of Police (Chittoor) Manikanta Chandolu, and Deputy Superintendent of Police Chenchu Babu. He expressed his distress over the “missing gaps” in the plans for issuing “Vaikunta Dwara Darshan” tokens. Mr. Pawan Kalyan voiced his annoyance at the bureaucrats’ tendency to formulate policies and tactics behind the four walls, which results in obvious failures to carry out plans.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan encouraged the officials to work together to help the ordinary devotee, directly blaming the disaster on Executive Officer J. Syamala Rao, Additional Executive Officer Ch. Venkaiah Chowdary, and other officials lower down the hierarchy.
“The arrangements for the average person should not be handled in this manner. The TTD must abandon its VIP-centric strategy and begin concentrating on regular pilgrims. He added, “I am also appealing to the TTD Chairman.” Mr. Pawan Kalyan expressed dissatisfaction with the inadequate lighting in the stampede area, the odd hours that tokens were issued, and the disregard for Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
