There will not be any dual power centre at Sabarimala and the very mission of the Chief Coordinator and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will be the smooth conduct of the Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season, Sabarimala Chief Coordinator K. Jayakumar has said. He was talking to reporters at Sabarimala Sannidhanam on Friday. Policy decisions at Sabarimala would be implemented by the TDB and that his role, as envisaged by the Kerala High Court, would be to take necessary steps to facilitate hassle-free pilgrimage and ensure effective coordination among various government agencies and the TDB, Mr. Jayakumar said. There was no question of any VIP treatment to anyone at Sabarimala. “Here, Lord Ayyappa is the lone VVIP,” he said.
Prasadom quality
Every possible step had been taken to ensure the quality of Aravana and Appam, besides streamlining its production. The Food Safety Commissionerate should take extra care in ensuring the quality of the prasadom before its distribution through the devaswom counters, he said. The TDB had a buffer stock of 22 lakh cans of Aravana and 80,000 packets of Appam as on Friday and the ‘prasadom’ production was progressing in full swing. The regulations imposed on the sale of Appam was lifted on Friday, Mr. Jayakumar said. Cleanliness and hygiene of the Appam-Aravana plant would be ensured to prevent contamination of food items, he added. Two more oxygen parlours would be set up along the Swami Ayyappan Road and the TDB had been directed to provide toilet facilities to women pilgrims on the Pampa-Sannidhanam path. The plying of tractors would be allowed for five hours from 11 a.m., he said. The Queue Complex constructed by the TDB at Saramkuthi would be kept open for pilgrims and a steel barricade would be erected on the northern side of the temple for crowd regulation. The Punyam Poonkavanom cleaning drive would be extended to more areas at Sannidhanam by bringing the backyards and corridors of various buildings and the flyover leading to Malikappuram under its purview, he said. Either the Chief Coordinator, Devaswom Commissioner N. Vasu or Senior Deputy Devaswom Commissioner V.S. Jayakumar would camp at Sabarimala throughout the pilgrim season, he said. Chief co-ordinator had reviewed the arrangements being made by the TDB as well as various Government agencies at Sabarimala, Pampa and Nilackal on Friday.
