Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited Hasanamba temple in Hassan on October 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The number of devotees visiting Hasanamba temple in Hassan, in Karnataka, has been increasing, making it tough for police and district administration to handle the crowd.

The tough challenge has led to heated arguments and altercations among officers. Often, the devotees in the general queue raise objections to allowing people with special passes (VIP passes) free access without the trouble of standing in long queues.

Hassan Deputy Commissioner C. Sathyabhama, Superintendent of Police Mohammed Sujeetha and other senior officers are camping at the temple to handle the situation. The number of elected representatives visiting the temple has also gone up. The officers have to maintain protocol, besides pacifying the devotees who stand in queues for hours to get entry into the temple.

An argument broke out when Ms. Sathyabhama objected to Belur MLA H.K. Suresh accompanying former CM B.S. Yediyurappa and BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra inside the tempe. The official explained to the MLA that many people had already accompanied the leaders inside the temple.

In other such incidents, the police on duty had altercation with officials of the Revenue Department, and a lady police officer suffered injuries in a scuffle. This incident exposed the lack of cooperation between the police and revenue officials on duty.

The administration has introduced three separate lines for devotees to get darshan of the deity. Special tickets are sold at ₹300 and ₹1,000 each. Free entry takes a long time. Those who buy tickets worth ₹1,000 get entry within a couple of hours. Besides them, there are special passes meant for VIPs. But, even the queue of people with VIP passes is getting longer.

The movement of people in the general queue (free entry) gets delayed whenever dignitaries and Ministers visit the temple. Among those who visited the temple so far are Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, and former CM B.S. Yediyurappa.

The temple is opened only during the annual Hasanamba festival. The doors of the temple were opened on October 24 and will be closed on November 3. People can visit the temple up to November 2.

The temple administration has earned about ₹4.73 crore in the last five days through sale of entry tickets.