All arrangements are in place for the smooth conduct of Sivarathri festival on the banks of the Periyar as agencies concerned brace for the flow of lakhs of devotees to pay obeisance to their forefathers from Tuesday to Thursday.
About 10 lakh devotees are expected to take part in the rituals starting from Tuesday evening to Wednesday afternoon. Since Thursday marks the new moon of the Malayalam month of Kumbham, more people are expected on that day as well since there is the belief that the new moon coinciding with Sivarathri was particularly auspicious.
Paying obeisance to forefathers will get under way at balitharas along the river banks by Tuesday afternoon though the midnight lighting of Sivarathri lamp will officially mark its beginning. Priests Parameswaran Namboodiri and Mullappally Subramanian Namboodiri will lead the temple rituals.
Around 150 balitharas have been set up at the Manappuram in addition to the permanent ones of the Travancore Devaswom Board. This was in addition to arrangements being made at Adwaithasramam for 3,000 devotees to offer bali at a time.
Green protocol
The Aluva municipality, in association with the district administration and the Suchitwa Mission, has taken measures to ensure that the festival is organised in compliance with the green protocol.
“Volunteers will be deployed for ensuring compliance with the green protocol while traders have also been given awareness classes. Arrangements have been made for removal of non-biodegradable waste,” said Aluva municipal chairperson Lissy Abraham.
Aluva town will remain under a security net with over 2,000 policemen to be deployed under the supervision of Rural Police Chief A.V. George and DySP K.B. Prafulla Chandran. Ten DySPs, 30 circle inspectors, 164 sub inspectors and assistant sub inspectors, 1,500 civil police officers, including 200 women civil police officers, will be deployed to ensure law and order. Extensive traffic regulations have been put in place in Aluva town from 4 p.m. on Tuesday till 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
Insurance
The municipality has taken an insurance coverage of ₹2 crore for devotees within a seven kilometre radius of the Manappuram. The operation of special trains to Aluva and the extension of Kochi metro services late into the night will help devotees. Arrangements have been made for the distribution of ginger coffee and uppumavu and peas to devotees along the Manappuram.
Separate bath ghats have been arranged for men and women. Two hundred volunteers will be deployed to help devotees.
The municipality has allocated space for running 40 stalls while the KSEB has been paid ₹30 lakh to light up the entire area. A temporary bus stand for KSRTC services has also been set up for the convenient movement of devotees.
