The Hindu Business Line : Sabari shrine to be developed on Tirupati model

THE Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which controls and administers the famous Sabarimala Ayyappa temple and around 2,000 other temples in the State, is now contemplating the idea of developing the forest shrine on the Tirupati model.

The TDB President, Mr G. Raman Nair, told Business Line that he would be heading a delegation comprising the Board's two members to Tirupati this week for making an on-the-spot study of the facilities there especially with regard to the management of the pilgrims, preserving the environment etc. "We are now thinking of developing Sabarimala on the Tirupati model," he said.

Tirupati temple receives on an average around 10,000 pilgrims daily and they are regulated and managed in such a manner that the pilgrims can have the "darshan" without waiting for long. The fingerprint scanning facility there quickens entry into the temple. The pilgrims are regulated through orderly queues in barricades.

"We want to look at these facilities and familiarise with the system of management and their functioning," he said.

However, the money pouring into the "hundi" at Tirupati estimated at Rs 200 crore a year is used for creating facilities for the pilgrims, apart from utilising it for developing health and educational infrastructures under the Tirupati-Tirumala Devasthanam, which manages the temples.

He said that Government had now finalised selling of 305 acres of revenue land at Kambakkallu in Idukki district for afforestation in lieu of the land allotted by the Government at Nilakkal held by the State Farming Corporation to the TDB.

The property will be officially handed over to the Board on June 16 at a function to be held there, he said. The Board had already paid Rs 6 crore towards "net present value". The cost for afforestation of the 305 ha of revenue land would be Rs 50,000 per hectare, he said.

Meanwhile for getting the clearance from the Supreme Court for allotment of around 12 ha of land at Marakkoottam, which falls under the Periyar Wild Life Sanctuary, the Board has already sent the relevant papers to the Government, he said.

The Board, he said, is in the process of getting a comprehensive master plan for the overall development of Sabarimala. The TDP President was of the view that the health facilities provided during the pilgrimage season in the past were quite inadequate.

Hence, the Board is thinking of creating adequate infrastructure for providing medical assistance to the needy pilgrims on similar lines it is provided at Tirupati, he said. Similarly, "we are contemplating the construction of the `Q' complex at Marakoottam and at Sabarimala on the Tirupati model," he said.

He said that the proposed `queue complex' at Marakoottam on the trekking path from Pampa to Sabarimala to regulate the movement of devotees to Sannidhanam, would have the capacity to accommodate 50,000 pilgrims at a time.

It would be in compartments where adequate health care facilities including cardiology units having 8 beds, oxygen parlours, first aid centres, facilities for drinking water and snacks, toilets etc would be available. Development of this area would be done in such a way that it would not disturb the serenity of forests.

In addition, the Rs 16-crore project already sanctioned by the Centre under the National River Conservation Programme would also be taken up along with the proposed projects, he said.

Similar facilities would be created on the route to Sabarimala via Uppupara depending on the number of devotees arriving through this trekking path, he said.

During the last season an estimated 3.5 crore pilgrims visited the shrine. Majority of them were from outside the States, such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

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