The Hindu : Kerala News : Pilgrims’ concern at lack of crowd management system

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Thursday, Jan 08, 2009
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Pilgrims’ concern at lack of crowd management system

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

Heavy flow of pilgrims continues at Sabarimala

SABARIMALA: Heavy flow of pilgrims to Sabarimala continued on the fifth day on Wednesday, leaving the crowd management machinery stretched.

The police regulated the flow of pilgrims by blocking them at different segments on the trekking path. The pilgrims had to wait for seven to eight hours in the barricades to reach the temple.

Many devotees, especially those from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, were seen complaining about the absence of a scientifically designed crowd management system like that of Tirupati.

They expressed concern at the “absence of a proper mechanism to supply food, health drinks and even drinking water to pilgrims in a clean and hygienic manner either on the trekking path or at the Sannidhanam and at Pampa.”

A good number of pilgrims were tired by the time they reached the temple precincts. There were instances of pilgrims fainting inside the barricades.

However, the medicated drinking water supply kiosks opened by the Travancore Devaswom Board on the trekking path and the Ayyappa Seva Sanghom volunteers supplying drinking water to pilgrims were a solace.

Jayamohan, police special officer at Pampa, said not less than 20 per cent of the pilgrims coming from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were reportedly staying back at the Sannidhanam for the Makarajyoti darshan on January 14.

He said pilgrims infiltrating the barricades through the forests were a problem. The police periodically blocked the pilgrims at Pampa in the evening in an effort to regulate the rush at the Sannidhanam, Mr. Jayamohan said.

Special Officer at the Sannidhanam V.K. Venugopal told The Hindu that the police were exploring the possibility of blocking pilgrims at the Nilackal base camp, if the rush continued in the coming days.

Pilgrim dies

A 70-year old pilgrim, identified as Chinnadurai from Meenambakkom, near Chennai, died of cardiac arrest at Marakkoottom on the trekking path on Wednesday. He was returning from the Sannidhanam.

The body was taken to Chennai in an Ayyappa Seva Sanghom ambulance.

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