Traders at Sabarimala managed to operate a tea and snack stall from a toilet block at Neelimala on the Pampa-Sannidhanam path, according to a group of devotees.
A tea-snack stall was found operating from the toilet block at Neelimala-Top when the Ayyappa Temple remained open for the Niraputhari celebrations on Friday, they said.
The food articles were kept on a slab inside the toilet block that houses latrines and bathrooms. A live gas stove used for making tea was found on the steps of the latrine block with a vessel of boiling water on it, making a mockery of the much publicised food safety precautions made by the government machinery. The traders might have chosen the toilet block for operating the tea stall owing to the availability of pipe water inside for cooking.
Pilgrims were complaining of the smell of septage at several points at Pampa, Sannidhanam and along the trekking path. There were also apprehensions that contractors might have opened the septic tank covers at certain points to clear the filth in the heavy rain. Devotees from Coimbatore, who were climbing the hills, bemoaned the poor basic facilities at the pilgrim centre where not less than 25,000 devotees congregated for the day-long Niraputhari festival on Friday.
Ironically, the toilet block is situated hardly 25 metres away from the Cardiology Centre at Neelimala. When contacted, the Travancore Devaswom Board authorities at Sabarimala said the Health Department and the Food Safety authorities were supposed to address such issues.
Many pilgrims were of the opinion that TDB should take immediate steps to stop all commercial activities at Sabarimala by opening clean tea and snack kiosks at different points on the trekking path, Pampa, and Sabarimala or by permitting credible devotees’ organisations with proven track record to do the job.
