The Hindu Business Line : Sabarimala camp development unlikely before next season

THE development of a modern base camp at Nilakkal in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district for the Sabarimala pilgrims is unlikely to take off before the next season beginning mid-November, as the Forest Department has set a number of conditions besides handing over only 60 hectares against the promised 110 hectares.

Mr G. Raman Nair, President, Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which controls and administers around 2,000 temples in the State including the Sabarimala forest shrine, told Business Line: "Even for felling trees in the allotted land we have to seek the consent and permission of the Forest Department. Thus, their legal rights exist over the land."

He added that at the function held at Nilakkal on Thursday, only 60 hectares were handed over with the promise that the remaining 50 hectares would be handed over soon.

The board has already paid Rs 6.41 crore towards the net current value of the land.

The amount has been deposited in the account of the Ministry Environment and Forests (MoEF) with the SBI for a two-year term, he said.

In addition, the TDB would have to bear the cost of afforestation at Rs 50,000 a hectare of the 305 acres of revenue land bought by the board in lieu of the 110 hectares at Nilakkal.

The conditions put forward by the Forest Department could impede the development of the area, he added.

Mr Nair also said that he would be visiting New Delhi to discuss these issues with the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, who is entrusted with the development of Sabarimala by the Prime Minister.

The 110 hectares at Nilakkal is rubber plantation which has been under the possession of the Government-owned State Farming Corporation since 1982.

Before 1982 the area was used for cultivating sugarcane by the co-operative Mannam Sugar Mills, Pandalam.

The entire 3,000 hectares of forest area known as the "Poonkavanam of Lord Ayyappa" was under the possession of the royal family of Pandalam before being taken over during the British raj.

Mr Nair said that the board would seek refund of the Rs 6.41 crore as the TDB has paid it from its revenue from the temple and "not from any business. It is the money offered by crores of pilgrims."

The income from the forest shrine last fiscal was around Rs 100 crore.

With this, all the other temples under the board are managed, as the revenue from majority of the temples is not enough to meet requirements.

The surplus left with the board would be hardly Rs 1 crore; when Rs 6.41 crore is diverted, it would affect the functioning of the temples that are dependent on financial support from the TDB, board sources said.

Despite being a major revenue source for the State, lack of adequate Government support in providing vital infrastructure for the pilgrims has been a major constraint faced by the TDB during the pilgrimage season, when lakhs of Ayyappa devotees trek to the forest shrine, Mr Nair said.

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