The Hindu : Water scarcity: Sabarimala temple rituals deferred

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 17, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Water scarcity: Sabarimala temple rituals deferred

By Our Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA, MARCH 16. The Laksharchana and Sahasrakalasom, two major rituals, scheduled for Thursday at the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala have been deferred owing to acute scarcity of water at the holy hillock.

According to the Travancore Devaswom Board executive officer, R. Krishanan Nair, the water scarcity has become so acute that the Board had to restrict the supply of water even for the daily rituals at the hill shrine during the ongoing monthly poojas.

The Kunnar dam in the upper reaches of Sannidhanam and the Pampa river have dried in the summer heat, aggravating the water crisis at Pampa and Sannidhanam. The TDB has closed down all its accommodation centres at Sabarimala because of water scarcity. The water supply to the toilets and latrines at Pampa and Sannidhanam too has been stopped for the past three days, leaving the devotees in a miserable condition.

Moreover, with the drying up of the river, the pilgrims are forced to give up their customary holy dip in the Pampa prior to the Neelimala trek.

The pump house of the Kerala Water Authority at Pampa-Triveni too has not been in operation for the past two days on account of the drastic depletion of water level, according to official sources.

Open defecation by the pilgrims at Pampa has made the riverbanks dirty. The ankle-deep stagnant water in the upstream of Pampa-Triveni has become a squalid pool.

The executive officer said the Board had been utilising the small water storage left in the over-head tank at Saramkuthy for the daily poojas and other basic needs at Sannidhanam for the past three days. The water supply to the main Devaswom Guest House had also been restricted, he said.

The Tantri, Kantaru Rajeevaru, said the postponement of the Sahasrakalasom and Laksharchana was the only option before the temple authorities in the prevailing situation. He said the Board would find it difficult to provide basic accommodation and sanitation facilities to the 20-odd priests who were supposed to attend the Laksharchana on March 18, because of the water scarcity.

Though the TDB had sought release of certain amount of water from the Kochu Pampa reservoir of the Sabarigiri hydro-electric project into the Pampa in view of the monthly poojas at Sabarimala, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) had failed to respond positively, Mr. Nair said.

Meanwhile, the KSEB authorities say that the storage position at the Sabarigiri reservoir is equally grim.

The Government will be forced to initiate steps for the release of water from the Kochu Pampa dam during the Vishu festival next month at Sabarimala, if the prevailing water crisis continues. The KSEB authorities maintain that the release of dam waters now will only make them helpless to release water during the Vishu festival when the pilgrim influx will be much higher.

The District Collector, Rabeendra Kumar Agarwal, has also apprised the KSEB Chairman, T.M. Manoharan, of the grave water crisis at Sabarimala due to the drying up of the Pampa. He has also sought the release of certain amount of water from the Kochu Pampa reservoir into the Pampa on a war-footing in view of the ongoing monthly poojas at Sabarimala.

VHP threat

The Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has threatened to block the Devaswom Minister, G. Karthikeyan, and the TDB president, N. Babu, on the road, if they failed to ensure the smooth conduct of the Sahasrakalasom and Laksharchana as scheduled.

In a statement issued here today, the VHP State spokesman, V.R. Rajasekharan, alleged that the Government had always adopted a step-motherly attitude to Sabarimala. The water scarcity had been there at Sabarimala well before the opening of the temple on March 13 for the five-day poojas in the Malayalam month of Kumbhom. But, neither the TDB nor the Government had taken any steps to provide even the basic facilities to the devotees. They were deprived of even drinking water at Sabarimala, he said.

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