Sabarimala has turned a beehive of activity, with hardly 18 hours left for the opening of the Ayyappa temple for the two-month-long annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage on Tuesday afternoon.
The Travancore Devaswom Board as well as various government departments and agencies have made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the annual pilgrim season at Sabarimala which an estimated five crore pilgrims are expected to visit in a span of 63 days. TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan and member Ajay Tharayil are camping at Sabarimala.
Pathway
Mr. Tharayil told The Hindu that the TDB’s new Annadana Mandapam, spread over 1.05 lakh sq ft, would serve food to as many as 1,800 persons at a time at Sabarimala Sannidhanam from Wednesday.
He said Sunil Swami, a devotee from Kollam, had sponsored steel furniture worth Rs.1.5 crore.
The ground floor of the Annadana Mandapam had been furnished by Monday afternoon.
The TDB Works Department has constructed a pathway leading to the Mandapam from Malikappuram, he said.
The Mandapam will be fully operational before the next pilgrimage season.
Mr. Tharayil said the TDB would not permit any hotels at Sabarimala from the next pilgrimage season, after the commissioning of the Annadana Mandapam.
G. Mahesh, chief architect of Pithavadiyan and Partners Limited, which designed the Mandapam, told The Hindu that it had been designed to cater to the modern style of cooking and serving of food. The kitchen would be a fully mechanised with automatic dish-washers and cooking units, he said.
Aravana stock
Mr. Tharayil said the TDB had kept 40 lakh cans (250 ml each) of Aravana and one lakh packets of Appam as buffer, envisaging huge demand.
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation has opened its seasonal depot at Pampa, besides starting special Pampa services from its depots in different parts of the State.
The corporation has opened a control room at Chengannur railway station on Monday.
Akhil Bharatha Ayyapa Seva Sanghom vice-president D. Vijayakumar inaugurated the maiden Pampa service from the railway station in the morning.
