Production of ‘appam’ at Sabarimala has been disrupted with the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) failing to comply with the directive of the Kerala High Court to ensure the quality of the prasadom (offering).
In its order dated November, 23, 2015, the Division Bench of the High Court, comprising Justice Thottathil B.Radhakrishnan and Anu Sivaraman, had categorically stated that the articles brought by pilgrims in the ‘irumudikkettu’ (sacred bundle) should not be reused or recycled.
The court order said: “The contents of the irumudi are always held to be holy. The need to preserve their sanctity cannot be permitted to be eroded by availability of the materials which have once been used for the purpose of the pilgrimage as they relate to articles which are to be filled in the Irumudi and never intended to be reused or recycled.’’
The TDB has been reusing the rice brought by pilgrims in the Irumudikkettu for making Appam for the past many years and this practice continued even after the Court order in 2015.
Violation of the court order came to the notice of the Duty Magistrate and the Food Safety officials during an inspection of the appam plant at the Sabarimala Sannidhanam on Sunday. They have taken up the matter with the Special Commissioner appointed by the High Court M. Manoj, and directed the Sabarimala Executive Officer to strictly comply with the Court order of 2015 and stop using the rice brought in the Irumudis for appam production with immediate effect.
The court order also directed the Executive Magistrate attached to the office of the Special Commissioner, Sabarimala, to ensure strict compliance with its directive.
The appam stock as on Sunday afternoon was 68,000 against its average daily requirement of 1 lakh, board sources said.
