The Hindu Business Line : Chaos at Sabarimala

Kochi, Dec. 16 Mismanagement and poor coordination between various departments seem to have scuppered the Sabarimala development plans, with no significant progress in creating adequate facilities for the ever-increasing number of pilgrims trekking to the forest shrine.

During the first phase of the pilgrim season which began on November 16, an estimated 30 lakh pilgrims visited the temple and the crowd on Saturdays and Sundays is almost equal to the number of devotees during the Makara Vilakku season from January 1 to 14, said official sources.

No additional facilities worth mentioning have been created corresponding to the increase in the number pilgrims and instead, there appears to be a chaotic situation in supply of the famous Aravana of Lord Ayyappa, which the devotees consider as sacred. All the arrangements are quite inadequate, Mr Jagmohan Das, a former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) official said.

What is happening at Sabarimala of late is a clear manifestation of the politicisation of the TDB, which administers more than 1,200 temples, including Sabarimala, Mr Das alleged.

No Aravana

Shortage of cans for packing Aravana has squeezed its sales, resulting in a reported loss of around Rs 4 crore so far. Probably, for the first time in the history of the pilgrimage, large number of devotees had to return without obtaining the “divine gift”.

Lack of coordination and disputes between the TDB and forest department have led to non-implementation of even the urgently required projects under the Pampa Action Plan (PAP), such as a sewage treatment plant at Sabarimala and augmentation of existing plant at Cherayanavattom in Pampa.

Inadequate facilities and poor handling at the base camp at Nilakkal resulted in overflowing of sewage treatment tank there into the forest.

The situation will accelerate pollution of the Pampa river, a lifeline for millions of people living in its basin right from the valley of Sabarimala to Kuttanad, Mr N.K. Sukumaran Nair, General Secretary, Pampa Parirakshana Samithi, a NGO, told Business Line.

Crowd management

The crowd management has also been poor. Even during the initial days of the pilgrimage season, the pilgrims had to wait in queue for up to 10 hours to reach the base of the 18 steps leading to the sanctorum. Pilgrims coming from other States are worst-hit.

Coming days will witness a surge of pilgrims converging at Pampa and Sabarimala and with the present kind of crowd management mechanism, the situation is likely to go out of hand, a senior government official said.

The Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, is understood to have convened a meeting of all concerned with Sabarimala this week to chalk out a strategy to get over the current problems.

In fact, 18 meetings were said to have been held to draw up plans for a smooth pilgrimage season during the past few months with no visible outcome. All the master plans, including the latest by the Ecosmart, still remain in the shelves in the Secretariat waiting for a political will for implementation.