With an increase in footfall at the famed Lo♎rd Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala during the ongoing pilgrimage season, the Kerala High Court on Sunday issued a slew of directions to the police and temple authorities regarding crowd management and control of vehicular traffic to ensure smooth 'darshan' for pilgrims.
In the absence of COVID-19 restrictions, unlike the previous two years, devotees have turned up in huge numbers this year at Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta district of t🌊he state for the annual two-month long Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage which began on November 17.
The increase in footfall also resulted in crowd management and traffic control issues, especially on Saturday when close to lakh bookings were made via the virtual ⛄queue syst๊em and around 90,000 devotees arrived for 'darshan', the high court noted in its special sitting held during the day.
ꦏA few police personnel on duty sustained minor injuries due to issues in crowd management, the court was told.
In view of these developments, the previous day and the fact that virtual queue bookings were above one lakh for Monday, a bench of Just🤪ices Anil K Narendran and P G Ajithkumar held a special sitting and directed the District Collector and the District Police Chief of Pathanamthitta to eཧvolve a crowd management plan when the expected footfall is above 75,000 per day.
The plan would be evolved as per the virtual queue bookings and in consultation with the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and the Special Commissioner, Sabarimala, the bﷺenc༒h said.
It also said that whether the sanctum sanctorum of Sabarimala Sannidhanam, whi𝓡ch is open for 18 hours a day, can remain open for an extra 30 minutes or one hour was for the TDB to consider in consultation wi🌃th the tantri of Sabarimala.
Regarding the management of vehicular traffic onඣ the routes to Sabarimala, the court directed the District Police Chief to arrange to patrol o𒉰n motorcycles when the movement of vehicles is blocked for long periods.
"In case the movement of vehicles is blocked for a considerably lon🙈g peri⛦od, the Travancore Devaswom Board shall make necessary arrangements for providing 'chukkuvellam' (water) and biscuits to pilgrims in such vehicles," it said.
It further directed that when parking grounds at Nilakkal🐠 in Pathanamt൩hitta reaches the maximum capacity, entry of vehicles has to be regulated appropriately by the police.
"The restrictions imposed on the parking of vehicles at Nilakkal parking grounds shall be made known to the pilgri𝔍ms, through the public address systems at edathavalams," the bench said. Edathavalams are halting points for pilgrim🅷s.
The TDB was also directed to ensure that the parking cont♔ractor engages sufficient staff to ensure proper parking of vehicles.
The c🌺ourt's directions came on three separate pleas initiated by it on its own with one regarding the management of the virtual queue system and the other two based on individual complaints on res🥃trictions on entry of vehicles from Nilakkal to Pamba and difficulties faced by pilgrims at Nilakkal and Pamba in the absence of queue system for the passengers boarding KSRTC buses.
All three were taken ꦑup in the special sitt🐼ing in view of the crowd management issues faced on Saturday at the shrine.
Meanwhile, the Congress-led UD🧜F opposition alleged that the Left government completely failed to be prepared for the huge fo🍌otfall expected this year at Sabarimala.
Leader of Oppos🐷ition in the state assembly V D Satheesan alleged that the state gov🔯ernment and the TDB failed to realise that number of pilgrims would increase post-COVID.
He said that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi𒀰 Vijayan and ministers concerned should visit Sabarimala to take stock of the situation and issue necessary directions𝐆.
Satheesa❀n also suggested that a responsible minister be given full control over wha🐭t is happening at the temple till the pilgrimage season gets over.
The 41-day Mandala puja festival will ꩲconclude on Dec🐠ember 27.
Thereafter, the temple will be opened 🅰again on December 30 for the Makaravilakku 🍸pilgrimage, which will end on January 14, 2023.
The shrine will be closed on January 20, 2023 concluding the pil🐽grimage seaᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚson.
-With PTI Input
