Pathanamthitta (Kerala): The Sabarimala Ayyappa temple here was opened on Wednesday evening on the eve of the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season and amid expectations of a steep rise of 40 to 50 per cent in footfalls of devotees this year due to absence of restrictions post-Covid.
Unlike the last two years, when the pilgrimage was limited to around 30,000 devotees each day as per strict Covid guidelines, this year there were no limits on the number of pilgrims who can come for darshan, said Kerala Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan. "We expect a huge turnout this year. There is no limit on the number of devotees who can come per day," the minister said.
Travancore Devaswom Board president K Ananthagopan said that on Wednesday evening close to 30,000 devotees turned up for darshan. On Thursday, when the 41-day long annual pilgrimage season begins, close to 50,000 devotees are expected as per virtual queue registrations and these numbers are likely to increase as more pilgrims would come via spot booking, he said.
"There are more than 40,000 bookings per day via virtual queue alone. In the next 10 days around 7 lakh devotees are expected to come. Last year, during the entire season, around 27 lakh pilgrims had come for darshan," Ananthagopan said. Expecting the huge turnout, extensive arrangements have been made for a safe and smooth pilgrimage for which all concerned departments have worked in tandem.
A meeting of officials of the southern states was also held to discuss the steps to be taken to ease the pilgrimage for devotees from the neighbouring states. It was decided to display information in all the languages of the southern states, the minister informed.
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Radhakrishan also said that all Devaswom Boards in the state will jointly ensure that pilgrims have a place to stay at Edathavalams (temporary halting places) under their control and proper facilities are available there. The sanctum sanctorum of the temple was opened on Wednesday evening in the presence of chief priest (Tantri) Kandararu Rajeevaru by outgoing head priest N Parameswaran Namboothiri.
Later, newly selected head priests of Lord Ayyappa and Malikappuram temples took over the performing of poojas for the next one-year period. The 41-day Mandala puja festival will conclude on December 27. Extensive arrangements have been made by the police, the Health and Transport departments as well as the local administration.
A 24-hour Sabarimala ward, with 18 beds equipped with all state-of-the-art facilities, has been set up at the Pathanamthitta General Hospital where life-saving drugs, equipment and lab tests would be available free of cost, the Health department said in a release. Any pilgrim experiencing chest pain or cardiac arrest will be attended to within five minutes.
Health workers have been deployed to help elderly devotees if they find it difficult to climb the hill-top shrine. To prevent accidents and provide assistance in emergencies on the over 400 kms of roads which form part of the pilgrimage route, the Motor Vehicles Department has come out with the 'Safe Zone' project. Special MVD teams would patrol the pilgrimage routes 24/7 and a quick response team with ambulance, crane and recovery system has also been deployed.
Using the latest technology, the pilgrimage routes would be monitored from three control rooms. Aerial surveillance, deployment of more than 13,000 policemen, including intelligence officials and commandos, and CCTV cameras are part of the arrangements the Kerala police has made. They have set up three temporary police stations, bike patrolling and arrangements to deploy the National Disaster Response Force and the Rapid Action Force.
Pathanamthitta District Collector and Chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority, Dr Divya S Iyer, on Tuesday also carried out an assessment of all the preparations.
After a brief closure, the temple will be re-opened on December 30 for the Makaravilakku pilgrimage, which will end on January 14, 2023. The shrine will be closed on January 20, 2023 concluding the pilgrim season.
