The Hindu : Kerala News : Toilet user fee to continue in Sabarimala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 29, 2007
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Kerala

Toilet user fee to continue in Sabarimala

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

Contractors fleece devotees during Sabarimala pilgrim season
Sanitation society was ready to operate toilets free of cost

PATHANAMTHITTA: The system of auctioning the right to run the toilet blocks at Sabarimala for hefty sums by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) leads to fleecing of pilgrims at the hands of contractors during the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku season besides polluting the environment, especially the Pampa river.

Though the TDB has fixed a user fee of Rs.2 a head at its latrines and 50 paise at the urinals, the operators charge Rs.5 to Rs.10 during rush days.

It is alleged that a lobby of contractors, having nexus with certain TDB quarters, is behind the fleecing of pilgrims. The political executives nominated by the government to the TDB, which administers the pilgrim centre, also allegedly come under the ‘influence’ of the contractor lobby.

The TDB claims that almost double the population of the State visits Sabarimala during the 60-day annual pilgrim season every year. No fewer than 50,000 people camp at Sabarimala and Pampa on official duty in different phases, besides 25,000 workers and staff attached to various commercial outlets and non-governmental agencies.

The TDB constructed 2,020 latrines in 18 blocks at the Sannidhanam, Pampa and Nilackal and the right to run these comfort stations was auctioned off at a hefty sum of Rs.80 lakh last year.

Allegations of fleecing at the comfort stations were brought to the notice of the Special Commissioner appointed by the High Court during last season. However, the Commissioner was reportedly helpless in effectively tackling the issue allegedly due to lack of ground support from the various implementing officials at Pampa and Sabarimala.

This led to many pilgrims opting for open defecation on the river banks, leading to environmental pollution.

District Collector Ashok Kumar Singh had proposed to the TDB that the Sabarimala Sanitation Society (SSS), chaired by the Collector, was ready to operate the toilet blocks free of cost during the coming season. But the TDB is yet to respond to it. And it auctioned off the right to operate a majority of the toilet blocks at Sabarimala and Pampa for hefty amounts recently.

Collector’s proposal

The Collector’s proposal is to maintain the toilet blocks by posting a group of sanitation workers at each block during the festival period. “Still, it is not too late to consider the Collector’s proposal and implement it after obtaining approval from the High Court in the larger interests of the Ayyappa devotees,” say certain quarters attached to the TDB.

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