Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the state assembly made the announcement that the religious practice of devotees walking on red hot cinders during annual festivals of certain shrines and temples would be banned shortly.
The belief of appeasing deities by walking on burning cinders has been a practice by devotees of temples and shrines for so long.
An incident at Goddess Adishakti Maramma temple at Hattenahalli in Tumakuru took place recently where three people were dead and more than 80 people were injured. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah rejected the demand of the opposition parties at the assembly session, that the government to release an increased compensation to the families of the deceased. He said that the release of the compensation would be like encouraging more people to get into the age old religious practice.
The government has already ditributed two lakh rupees to the families of the deceased, Rs 25,000 to the seriously injured, and Rs 10,000 to those who suffered minor injuries, by way of compensation.
