A fire broke out at one of the pandals of the “Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam” organised by chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at Erravalli village in Medak on Sunday afternoon.
A fire broke out at one of the pandals of the “Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam” organised by chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at Erravalli village in Medak on Sunday afternoon.
Just 10 minutes after the fire broke out, the helicopter carrying President Pranab Mukherjee hovered over the burning pandal and returned without landing. The President was forced to cancel his visit to the yagam due to the mishap.
Thousands of people, including some VIPs, were moved to a safe distance as the blaze turned the main pandal into ashes. Four fire tenders, which were stationed at the spot, extinguished the fire in less than half-an-hour.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and Union minister of state Y.S. Chowdary had left the yagam just 90 minutes before the fire started.
The incident took place when the CM, many VIP guests, 1,500 ritwiks and several devotees were having lunch at an adjacent dining area.
Panic spread among hundreds of devotees who had lined up to take darshan of the holy fire. However, police officials present at the spot swung into action and brought the situation under control.
“There were no casualties in the incident. People moved away as quickly as possible and all of them were at a safe distance when the fire spread. There was no stampede,” a senior police official from Medak said.
Few minutes after the mishap, IT minister K.T. Rama Rao tweeted: “There was an unfortunate fire accident at the Ayutha Chandi Yagam. No casualties or injuries; the last leg of ceremony will be completed soon.”
Fire officials said that the staff were alert as elaborate security arrangements were already in place. “At around 1.10 pm the fire spread to the roof of the yagashala from the sacrificial pit. We are still checking what went wrong,” said a senior fire official from Medak district.
President Pranab Mukherjee was scheduled to participate in the yagam for Poornahuti (complete burning of the yagam material) on the final day of the yagam.
After the fire mishap, head of Sharada Peetham in Visakhapatnam, Swaroo-panandendra Swamy, stated that it was a divine intervention and the Poornahuti happened naturally.
However, after the fire was extinguished, the ritwiks resumed the ceremony and concluded the final day’s ceremony by the evening. Governor E.S.L. Narasi-mhan took the President’s place at the Poornahuti.
Several VIPs including spiritual gurus like Sri Sri Ravishankar, Tridandi Sreemannarayana China Jeeyar, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Union ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Bandaru Dattatreya, Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, Supreme Court judges, Justices J. Chalameswar and N.V. Ramana, and several others participated in the yagam.
