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Athi Varadhar -missed opportunity

drsundaram

Active member
Three weeks have passed since the revered Athi Varadhar came out to the outer world to bless the devotees after 40 years of solitude. This time around, He must have regretted for coming out. An Event which should have attracted the entire country towards the holy town of Kanchipuram, has lost the opportunity because of the incapable and inept handling of the situation by the State authorities . I think the inadequate arrangements were deliberate since this government is interested only in saving their seat of power at any cost. The Chief Minister , though a believer , neither reacted nor taken any action when Andal episode, Krishna baiting by Veeramani and other incidents hurting the sentiments of Hindus, taken place. To my mind , it seems he connived with the DMK to keep them in good humor so that his seat is not disturbed. If not a much developed state like Uttar Pradesh which could meticulously organize Kumba Mela, where crores of people converged in 45 days , without any incident, why not a State which is boasting of a most developments e could not do. This shows the intent and confidence of the ruling dispensations in th state . Is it not a shame for us to advertise in papers asking people not to come to see this rare presence ? Is it not a right of the citizens to have a Dharshan of the deity which come out only after 40 years ? Is it not the duty of the Government which controls the temples , to see that necessary arrangements are put in place ? Can't the Government explore the possibilities to show case the cultural heritage of the town in a way to attract the tourists from all over the country and abroad making use of this occasion ? Instead , they ask nt to come /prevent people who wish to come thus denying them the rare Divine occasson. Nothing can be more insensitive. Shame on them. May God save us from these two Dravidians.
With Love.
 
Shame on them. May God save us from these two Dravidians.
With Love.

These two Dravidian Parties are ruling the State for the past several decades and they will stay.

Do we have any alternative ..? We elect them and later lament. :)

My two cents…

In 1979, 40 years back, there was NO WhatsApp, Face Book, Twitter, and other social medias.

Besides, it is believed that Bhakthi/theistic devotional trend is also promoted nowadays through various magazines, periodicals, serials, movies, temple functions, etc

There was not much of crowd of devotees on those days.

Now, with lot of information and publicity shared through various sources, it generates curiosity among most of the Hindu devotees to have a Dharshan of Athi Varadhar and they don’t want to miss this opportunity and are not in a mood to wait for another 40 years.

Perhaps the Government should have foreseen such a situation and should have made enough bandobust arrangement.

Such huge gathering of public require involvement of Heads of Government Departments more particularly, Police, Fire Service, Health, Transport, Metro Water, Municipality, HR & CE, NGOs, Volunteers, etc

In such situations, High Power Committee Meeting would be arranged with all Heads of Departments, and effective bandobust will be drafted mobilising the required manpower to deal with the crowd control and ensure a comfortable and quick dharshan.

Four die of suffocation at Kancheepuram’s Athi Varadhar festival


Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a solatium of Rs 1 lakh to the kin of the deceased.

Read more at: https://www.thenewsminute.com/artic...-kancheepuram-s-athi-varadhar-festival-105704

Lack of water, improper facilities: Devotees slam Athi Varadar fest arrangements


Devotees say that the district administration is unprepared to deal with the crowds and has not taken suggestions from those who have waited for long hours for darshan

The temple town of Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu is being thronged by lakhs of devotees from every nook and corner of India for a darshan of the Athi Varadar deity after a long gap of 40 years at the Sri Varadharaja Perumal Temple. However, the poor facilities and crowd mismanagement have made what was to be a pleasant experience into a severe inconvenience for the elderly, pregnant women and persons with disabilities.

According to reports, the district administration was unprepared for the crowds and did not heed to suggestions by devotees and residents of the area to deploy more personnel for management and provision of facilities. While the Kancheepuram district collector said in June that they were expecting between 30,000 - 50,000 devotees per day between July 1 and August 17, the numbers are reported to be upwards of a lakh per day. The devotees, who enter through the Kizhakku Mada Veedhi on the east and exit through the west, wait for anywhere between four to six hours to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the main temple.

“We had to walk a couple of kms from the parking area to reach the tail of the long-long queue. We got exhausted and dehydrated by the time we were close enough to sight the entry of the temple. We had already spent three hours in the slow-moving queue and we realised it would take another at least three hours to reach the Lord. We decided to step out of the queue and head back home,” one devotee wrote on social media. Devotees have alleged that the provision of water is not sufficient and that the bio-toilets are located only around the main campus of the temple. According to the Times of India, there are just six bio-toilets on the four mada streets around the temple and they start stinking within a couple of hours.

Read more at: https://www.thenewsminute.com/artic...es-slam-athi-varadar-fest-arrangements-105522
 
I do not agree. I visited on July 15 th and had a good darsanam of Athi Varadar. The signages were clear and good, lots of policemen were on duty directing the people. Of course the majority of the policemen were rookies and had little exposure to crowd management. I think the administration should have constructed more holding areas and should have sent people 1000 people at a time to avoid a stampede like situation. There are separate ques for the elderly, the disabled and women with small children.These days the crowds are swelling to around 75000 on a normal day and around 1:25 lakh on the weekend. Unfortunately the number of VIP's visiting hampers the smooth flow of people. In fact every junior police functionary becomes a VIP and takes his extended family. The administration needs to put a check on this.
 
My wife is from Kanchipuram and spent her younger days there. Her house was in Chinna Kanchipuram where the Varadarajar Temple is situated. She says this event was celebrated mostly by the Local people and pilgrims from the district. Perhaps the publicity and increased communication facilities attracted unprecidented crowd of devotees from all over Tamil Nadu this time.

Comparing this event with the arrangements for Kumba Mela is not correct.Kumba Mela took place in a vast open space on the banks of Mighty Prayagraj, but this event takes place in a constrained area of the Temple within a city. Otherwise, thisTemple does not attract much crowd on ordinary days like Tirupati, Srirangam or Madurai temples.

Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.
 
My wife is from Kanchipuram and spent her younger days there. Her house was in Chinna Kanchipuram where the Varadarajar Temple is situated. She says this event was celebrated mostly by the Local people and pilgrims from the district. Perhaps the publicity and increased communication facilities attracted unprecidented crowd of devotees from all over Tamil Nadu this time.

Comparing this event with the arrangements for Kumba Mela is not correct.Kumba Mela took place in a vast open space on the banks of Mighty Prayagraj, but this event takes place in a constrained area of the Temple within a city. Otherwise, thisTemple does not attract much crowd on ordinary days like Tirupati, Srirangam or Madurai temples.

Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.
I do not think the Administration expected such a hug crowd, possibly the social media contributed a lot to this. At least it did in my case. I did not even dream of going to Kanchipuram but because of the social media posts I was enticed to have a darsanam, which I did too. Even now the administration can gear up efforts as the crowds will only go up
 
Hi,
Namaskarams. Kaveri Pushkaram happened in Mayiladuthurai in small place only. But local authorities did take some precautions and localities also supported a lot. Similarly Mahamagam happening once in 12 years is organized in better way. Mainly government authorities have lethargic attitude. Public are so enthusiastic and are not following the rules
 
Hi,
Namaskarams. Kaveri Pushkaram happened in Mayiladuthurai in small place only. But local authorities did take some precautions and localities also supported a lot. Similarly Mahamagam happening once in 12 years is organized in better way. Mainly government authorities have lethargic attitude. Public are so enthusiastic and are not following the rules
Hi,
Namaskarams. Kaveri Pushkaram happened in Mayiladuthurai in small place only. But local authorities did take some precautions and localities also supported a lot. Similarly Mahamagam happening once in 12 years is organized in better way. Mainly government authorities have lethargic attitude. Public are so enthusiastic and are not following the rules
But they did not get the publicity or the posts in the social media as Athi Vardar has got over the last 20 days. Such is the power of social media today. Tell me of one person in your locality who has not heard of Athi Vardar or is not planning a visit despite the huge crowd.
 
But they did not get the publicity or the posts in the social media as Athi Vardar has got over the last 20 days. Such is the power of social media today. Tell me of one person in your locality who has not heard of Athi Vardar or is not planning a visit despite the huge crowd.
yesterday morning my friend ,his mother and his wife went over from bangalore to kanchipuram for the Darsan of Athivaradhar . They managed trying for 4 hrs but could not even get into the temple atleast . they said more than devotees there were police . net result is they came back to bangalore without seeing athivaradhar.
 
yesterday morning my friend ,his mother and his wife went over from bangalore to kanchipuram for the Darsan of Athivaradhar . They managed trying for 4 hrs but could not even get into the temple atleast . they said more than devotees there were police . net result is they came back to bangalore without seeing athivaradhar.
Is that so. Because some friends of mine from Chennai stood in the q for 4 hours from 4:30 am to 8:30 am and said that they had a good darshan. So not sure what the actual position is till one sees for oneself.
 
Hi,
It is not because of publicity. Even during Pushkaram many people from Chennai, Bangalore visited, our street was loaded with lots of relatives, friends, known person. Many stayed in sirkazhi, chidambaram, kumbakonam. Came took bath visited temples .inconvenience is there everywhere but arrangements is lesser now. Kanchipuram is more than a town while Mayiladuthurai is a town only
 
No doubt about poor organization.
They should have quickly adapted Thirupathy digital registration. They had lot of time.
They should have had the payed darshan even 1000 rupees and comfortable and exclusive time slot .This would have made lot of income to local authorities.
The senior citizen entry was also not excusive and time slot was not excusive.
Sanitation was horrible. When nearing very close to varadhar ,in the pragaram there was a dead body smell may some animal carcass. There was a street visible enroute the East entrance queue,reminiscing the movie Annian a pool of dirty water and a transformer next to it.
They should have trained volunteers for one month. Even the police posted knew nothing about kanjeepuram or the details of darshan.
Unlimited number need not be allowed. They day I went after 6 hours in the queue at 10 pm still I could see crowd of few thousands behind me. I don't know whether everyone would have seen varadhar, doubtful.
The queue complex inside had bamboo barricades very crudly erected,wet mud soil, no place men watching,there many fist fights by people jumping queue. There was total lawlessness.
Many managed to see easily by chance. We should think and comment on the majority experience.
 

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