In an unfortunate event late Wednesday (January 8, 2025) night, six persons were killed and more than 20 were critically injured in a stampede at Tirupati. The incident occurred as people jostled for tickets for the Vaikunta Ekadasi festival at the Tirumala temple which is on Friday (January 10, 2025), the Chairman of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board, B.R. Naidu, said.
Mr. Naidu had reviewed the arrangements made by the TTD, municipal, and police officials at the Ramachandra Pushkarini on January 4, 2025 (Saturday), and asked people to “exercise restraint”.
The TTD had set up around 90 counters at various locations in Tirupati and announced that tickets would be made available from 5 a.m. on Thursday (January 9, 2025). The announcement drew tens of thousands of people. However, the overwhelming crowd at the counters, including Vishnu Nivasam, Bairagipatteda, and Ramachandra Pushkarini, led to chaos as the arrangements were reportedly not adequate. Even the police had a reportedly tough time controlling the crowd.
The TTD is among the richest temple trust boards in the world, but in the last few years, they have been embroiled in many controversies. One of those was the alleged embezzlement of the funds belonging to the SriVani Trust which generates a revenue of around ₹570 crore annually through the sale of darshan tickets. Though the allegations were later deemed misleading, the damage caused is believed to be one of the contributing factors that led to the downfall of the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
The image of the TTD also suffered a setback due to the allegations related to the use of ghee adulterated with animal fat in the making of laddus and other prasadams.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu instructed the TTD and police officials to extend the best medical care to those injured in the stampede. He also called for strict action against the employees responsible for the incident.