It has not been easy for hundreds of devotees visiting the Sri Devarajaswamy temple in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu for the Athi Varadar Vaibhavam. Earlier this month, my wife (62) and I (68) visited the temple. We feel there is urgent need for the authorities to set things right if a major disaster is to be averted. The heat is expected and as a medical practitioner I was able to avoid the risk of dehydration, but there are more serious issues that need looking into. There is much indecorous behaviour in form of jostling and pushing at every stage. Every point is seen by many as either an entry or an exit door. The result is that there is a grave risk of a stampede even in the “senior citizen queue”. Like most aspects of life of India, there are no rules and timings for the VIPs. The metal barricades are impediments with many trying to find short cuts. The result is that almost everyone faces the risk of being shoved to the ground or crushed. At the end of it, we did not leave but were unceremoniously “ejected” by the crowd. We realise that considerable effort has gone into making the arrangements but the number of devotees is much more than what the system can handle. There need to be restrictions and more thought given to crowd management and dealing with senior citizens and the disabled.

Dr. A. Nandakumar,

Bengaluru