The Hindu : Kerala News : Heavy rush continues at Sabarimala

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Monday, Dec 10, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

Heavy rush continues at Sabarimala

Staff Reporter

RELIGIOUS FERVOUR: Pilgrims waiting on the Saramkuthy-Sannidhanam trekking path for holy darshan at the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala on Saturday afternoon.

PATHANAMTHITTA: There was heavy rush of pilgrims at the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday.

The queue for holy darshan extended beyond Marakkoottom on the trekking path. Pilgrims standing in the queue took about eight to 10 hours to reach the temple precincts.

A 50-year-old pilgrim, identified as G. Ezhimalai of Thiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, died following heart attack at Pampa in the early hours of Sunday.

Another pilgrim, identified as Unni (26) of Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram district, sustained serious injuries in a fall from the flyover leading to Malikappuram from the Sannidhanam. Volunteers of the Ayyappa Seva Sanghom rushed him to the Sannidhanam Government Hospital.

He was admitted to the Pathanamthitta General Hospital, later.

The police blocked the devotees at Pampa on the foothills of Sabarimala from 7.45 p.m. on Sunday in an effort to regulate the inflow of the pilgrims to the trekking path and to the holy hillock. Pilgrims were also blocked at Marakkottom too, using ropes, in order to ease the pressure at Sannidhanam the police said.

Police Special Officer at Sabarimala U. Sadanandan Nair, said three additional platoons of police would be deployed from the Kerala Armed Police Camps at Maniyar and Adoor soon.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala alleged on Sunday that the State government and the Travancore Devaswom Board were guilty of criminal negligence in not providing basic facilities to Sabarimala pilgrims.

Mr. Chennithala, accompanied by K. Sivadasan Nair, MLA; Joseph Vazhakkan, KPCC secretary; and Seva Dal district chairman Vettoor Jyotiprasad; was talking to presspersons at Maramon.

He said the shortage of ‘aravana had caused hardship to pilgrims. The failure of the Board and the government in the proper conduct of the annual pilgrimage was evident from the prolonged shortage, ultimately leading to a mess at the pilgrim centre.

Mr. Chennithala called for the resignation of Devaswom Minister G. Sudhakaran and the Board authorities, owning moral responsibility for the crisis.

He said the Board should be dissolved and the temple administration entrusted to a committee comprising devotees’ representatives.

He said Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan should intervene to sort out the problems without further delay.

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