Sir, As private vehicles are prohibited on Chamundi Hill Road on Ashada Fridays, half of the total devotees have now started to use the hill steps to reach the temple. The city administration should deploy monitoring authority for safe flow of thousands of step climbers. After 11 am, it was very hard to move up and down the stairs. Half the way, it was upward rush, then it starts heavy rush in the downward way. At many places, the climbing devotees were stranded for long. Many parents with their little children found it very hard to move. Old people were also seen using this steps-way. When we reached the temple atop, we observed flocks of Police personnel for every 200-300 ft. distance to monitor the people in queue to visit the temple. Not even a single Police personnel was deployed to monitor the flow of devotees in the step-way. In future, the authorities may have to plan to construct a median along the steps-way for smooth upward and downward movement of people and thereby avoid any stampede.
- T.S. Rohith kumar, Mysuru, 4.8.2018
