PATHANAMTHITTA: The delay on the part of the Travancore Devaswom Board in operating the incinerator at the Sannidhanam has affected solid waste disposal on the holy hillock.

Waste collected from the Sannidhanam and Pandithavalom in the past four days is accumulated near Malikappuram, posing a pollution threat.

TDB sources said the roofing work of the incinerator was in the final stage and the waste disposal mechanism would be in place by Wednesday.

Adoor Revenue Divisional Officer N.Mahesan, who is also the member-secretary of the Sabarimala Sanitation Society (SSS), sought explanation from the TDB for the delay in operating the incinerator, even after the beginning of the pilgrim season.

Collector Ashok Kumar Singh, who is the ex-officio chairman of the society, said the SSS deployed 278 workers from Tamil Nadu in Pampa, Nilackal and along the trekking path, besides 184 in the Sannidhanam, Malikappuram and Pandithavalom to ensure safe and timely cleaning operations.

Cleaning drive

Mr. Singh said sanitary workers were deployed in batches of 10 at different segments in Pampa, Sannidhanam and along the trekking path and launched a systematic cleaning drive from November 17 itself.

The RDO said the SSS deployed 50 sanitary workers at Nilackal and 10 at Pandalam.

However, the TDB was yet to provide accommodation for the workers from Tamil Nadu at the base camp in Nilackal, he said.

Special squads

The Collector said special squads were constituted for monitoring the price of foodstuffs and other items at the eateries in Sabarimala as well as the base camps during the pilgrim season.

However, the squads were unable to function properly owing to the failure of the TDB in providing the list of licensees of various shops in Sabarimala, he said.

Mr Singh said a Rapid Action Squad led by the Duty Magistrate in Pampa and two mobile sanitation squads were deployed in Sabarimala from November 17.

Recording facility

The police have introduced a facility to record all outgoing and incoming wireless messages and phone calls at its telecommunications centre in Sabarimala.

Inaugurating the facility at the Sannidhanam on Tuesday, Police Special Officer P. Vijayan said the recording would be made using the advanced Voice Loger system.

The new system has been introduced as per the Centre's directive to strengthen the security in Sabarimala, he said.

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