A fire broke out in a pandal where Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was performing puja on the last day of the five-day-long Ayutha Maha Chandi Yagam, a special religious ceremony for the prosperity of the State and its people, on Sunday afternoon. No one was hurt in the incident.
While it is customary to end such yagams by burning down the venue of the ceremony, the fire broke out accidentally in the huge thatched pandal just before the ceremony formally ended on Sunday with the Poornahuti ritual. Though some people considered the accident to be a bad omen, spiritual Guru Swaroopananda Swamy said that it was a sign that Goddess Durga had accepted the yagam.
“It was a very well organised event. The venue of the yagam is burnt or demolished soon after the event. In this case the Goddess herself set it on fire. The fire is a good omen,” he said.
However, President Pranab Mukherjee, who was scheduled to attend the concluding ceremony, cancelled his visit in view of the fire.
The yagam, that was estimated to have cost Rs 7 crore, was organized at KCR’s farmhouse at Erravalli Village in Medak district. The Chief Minister, his wife, Governor ESl Narasimhan and his wife, several Ministers and thousands of people were present at the ceremony.
Police said the fire in the main pandal destroyed its thatched roof. “The fire broke out at 1.30 pm but was quickly brought under control with the help of four fire engines by 2 pm,” a police officer said.
As it was the last day of the yagam, a 5,000-strong crowd had gathered there and people started running on seeing the flames. However the fire department and the police quickly brought the situation under control and moved the VIPs to a safe area and evacuated the crowd.
Member of Parliament K Kavitha said that nobody was injured in the incident and the concluding rituals were resumed soon after.
Earlier in the day Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu attended the yagam. Naidu, who brought gifts including sacred cloth from Kanakadurga temple of Vijayawada for burning in the final sacrificial rituals, offered prayers along with KCR and his wife.
Naidu was accompanied by Union Minister for Science Sujana Chowdary and State Ministers. However, his entourage left before the fire.