Athi Varadhar: Number of devotees cross 3L per day

Officials said the number of devotees who visited the temple on Tuesday was about 2.8 lakh by afternoon on Tuesday, which expected to cross 3 lakh by the end of the day. “Till Monday night, 49.5 lakh devotees visited the temple in Kancheepuram to worship Athi Varadhar,” said an official.

District Collector P Ponniah said in view of the crowd expected, 12,000 police personnel would be deployed in the last week of the festival, which is culminating on August 17. Additional special buses would also be deployed, the Collector said, adding that all schools in Kancheepuram town would be closed on August 16. Also, VIP passes would not be accepted in the last two days, the official added.

Meanwhile, in view of the swelling crowd, 21 supervisory officers, including 3 Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs), would oversee crowd control measures at the temple from Thursday. “The number of the devotees visiting the temple every day has already crossed 2.5 lakh. So it was decided to deploy more supervisory officers at the venue to make sure that the crowd is controlled in proper manner,” noted a senior police officer.

After a meeting he headed at the district police office in Kancheepuram last week, DGP JK Tripathy had already issued a circular to various wings in the Police Department directing their heads to send 21 officers, including three DIGs, to come prepared for bandobust duty for the festival from August 8 to 17.

DIGs K Bhavaneeswari (Coastal Security Group, Chennai), V Balakrishnan, (Tiruchy range), and R Lalitha Lakshmi (Social Justice and Human Rights) are among the 21 officers who have been deputed on duty.

Woman dies, policeman swoons: A 68-year-old woman devotee died of heart attack on Tuesday morning. Ratinam and her family from The Nilgiris came to Kancheepuram to worship Athi Varadhar, and got down at the temporary bus stop at Oli Mohamed Pettai in the morning. Just as she was about to board a small bus to the temple, she became unconscious. The medical team at the bus stop rushed her to Kancheepuram government hospital, but she was declared dead on the arrival due to cardiac arrest.

Meanwhile, a 35-year-old police constable fell unconscious while on duty at the temple. Senthil Kumar from Coimbatore was posted near the VIP queue around 6.30 am. He was administered first-aid before being rushed to Kancheepuram government hospital where the doctors advised him to take rest.