Kerala   

Sabarimala gears up for festival

PATHANAMTHITTA: With five days left for the beginning of the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage, Sabarimala and its major base camps at Pampa and Nilackal have become a beehive of activities.

Traders as well as various government agencies are busy preparing for the 70-day festival in the forest tracts.

Tractors frequenting the trekking path and mules carrying jaggery and other materials to the Sannidhanam for prasadom preparation are common scenes.

The works department of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) is busy with the repair and maintenance of various Devaswom buildings, sewer lines, toilets, drinking water kiosks, and roads at Nilackal, Pampa and the Sannidhanam.

Work on the Marakkoottom- Sannidhanam- Chandranandan Road is fast progressing. Coirfed will lay coir geotextile along a 420-metre slushy stretch of the road in the next few days.

TDB Chief Engineer K. Ravikumar told The Hindu that the TDB, in consultation with the Forest Department, would provide more facilities for erecting temporary pilgrim shelters during the Makaravilakku festival.

As many as 2,500 toilets would be made available at the Sannidhanam, Pampa and Nilackal during the coming pilgrim season. A two-tier system for accommodation at police barracks and a modernised police mess would be another facility for the policemen at Sabarimala.

The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has started cleaning and maintenance of its pump houses and storage tanks.

The irrigation wing of the Water Resources Department has made certain arrangements for pollution abatement of the Pampa as part of the proposed Pampa Action Plan.

K. Jayakumar, Additional Chief Secretary who is also Principal Secretary to the Water Resources Department, said Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan would formally launch the Pampa River Basin Authority at a function to be held at Pampa on November 15.

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