Trichy: A near stampede situation prevailed at a corridor leading to Vraja Nadhi mandapam as a tug of war occurred between police and devotees, mostly the people accompanying VIPs, during the opening of Paramapatha Vaasal at Srirangam temple on Tuesday morning. Even as adequate number of policemen was deployed in the corridors where the procession passed, a delay in opening the gates to facilitate the movement of devotees has caused chaos among the temple priests and devotees who were given entry passes.When procession deity Namperumal was passing through the narrow Nazhikettan entrance, VIP devotees including state food minister R Kamaraj were heading to Vraja Nadhi Mandapam, the final pit stop before traversing through the Paramapatha Vaasal. While accessing the Durai corridor gate near Kodimaram earlier, devotees were stopped by the police as they hesitated to open the gate. As devotees with pass including senior HR&CE and state government officials and people accompanying the minister rushing to the closed gate, a near stampede situation prevailed as the gate to reach Vraja Nadhi mandapam was closed. "We were repeatedly asking police to open the gate. However, the gate was not opened, causing chaos among devotees waiting in the corridors," M Thiruvenkadam Yadav, a devotee from Srirangam said. The police opened the gate only after the intervention of deputy commissioner of police, Trichy, A Myilvaganan.People attributed such shortcomings to poor coordination among police and HR&CE departments. Similarly, those with special entry passes who assembled near Shanthanu mandapam were not restricted properly, resulting in overcrowding. "Only those who had special passes had good darshan whereas common people were made to wait in the chilly weather for hours. The special passes were also provided to ineligible people," V Baskaran, a devotee told TOI. The devotees also had an altercation with police as they were repeatedly rerouted near Chithirai Street to enter the temple. Police sources said that such restrictions are part of safety. Repeated efforts to contact HR&CE officials went in vain.

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