The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will have to pay Rs. 24,640 to the Forest Department for felling 11 small softwood trees on the service road under construction at Pampa linking Pampa-Triveni with the Njunangar banks.
The Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom (ABASS) had sponsored the road project estimated to cost Rs.1.25 crore. ABASS general secretary N. Velayudhan Nair said it was gross injustice on part of the Forest Department to ask for monetary compensation from the temple authorities for cutting trees at Pampa as part of improving pilgrim amenities.
It was for the first time that the department had taken such an anti-pilgrim step. Devaswom Minister V.S. Sivakumar and Forest Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar should intervene to ensure better coordination among various departments and the TDB, Mr. Nair said.
ABASS had taken up the 1200-metre long, 10-metre wide service road project as a service to the devotees reaching the pilgrim centre. The proposed road is part of the Sabarimala master plan prepared by the Delhi-based Ecosmart India Ltd with a view to facilitating the smooth passage of Ayyappa devotees across the Pampa Manalpuram. All vehicles would be diverted through the service road after its completion. The movement of vehicles through the existing road had been posing inconvenience to pilgrims during the annual pilgrim season. The proposed service road would be used exclusively for transporting goods and for carrying physically challenged pilgrims without disturbing the flow of pilgrims.
The road would help in the speedy movement of medical and rescue teams, Mr. Nair said.
ABASS had spared 20 cents of land in its possession at Pampa for the road construction, he added. The work on the steps leading to the Pampa Ganapati temple would be completed in one month and the road would be ready for commissioning by November.
