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Had darshan of #Athivaradar at Kancheepuram an hour ago. This may be a slightly long thread but please read. Managed to get donor passes and went in around 2 pm. Darshan took almost 3 hours in the separate queue for those with donor passes. Now about the arrangements 
Put simply arrangements were woefully poor. In the regular queue there were people who had stood for 7 hours today to get darshan. No food they complained, not even enough water. And no roof at several places.Our queue also had no cover one stretch. And no fans for any queue
There were no fans until you entered the temple and even there only a handful overhead ones. Sweltering heat and ppl soaked in sweat. Plenty of pushing and jostling. Various groups of ppl being escorted by police and temple staff bypassing the queue at various places
Police doing a herculean job but being harassed continuously by various people dropping names and wanting to get past the barricades. Chaotic parking arrangements with the narrow streets clogged with vehicles and no one knowing where cars are allowed and where they aren't
And garbage piled in several places. That there has been no mishap so far is thanks to #Athivaradar alone. Besides, so many stories of people paying money to temple staff or cops and getting darshan. Reports of bulk distribution of donor passes to some merchants in the city
These shop owners are apparently giving it to their clients who make purchases. There are still 30 days to go and the following needs to be done urgently. 1. Provide at least shamiana covers for all parts of the queue. 2. Organize pedestal fans along the queue route
3. Allow merchants to have food and water along queue route. If worried about food quality etc. ask someone like IRCTC or well known hotel chains to help. 4. Clearly indicate the route for cars, allotted parking areas etc. at multiple points in town. 5. Have CCTV cameras to
identify those jumping queues. 6. Have LED display boards along queue indicating the status and time to darshan. 7. Deploy more cleaning staff with bleaching powder etc. to clean the premises and queue area. 8. Allow local cars with passes to at least reach their homes
And please get a new District Collector in ASAP or appoint a senior IAS Officer above him. The number of complaints I heard about the man in just half a day is sizable. I don't know him but from the job he has done or rather not done the complaints seem justifiable.
Irony is that none of the things I have listed out cost any significant amount of money. They just need common sense and a will to deliver a good experience to the lakhs of pilgrims visiting. #Athivaradar willing I intend to go back in a couple of weeks to see if Govt has
taken any steps to improve the situation. The pilgrims certainly deserve better. @CMOTamilNadu @OfficeOfOPS @SPVelumanicbe @mafoikprajan @OfficeofminSSR please read this thread and help.
