“We have brought sufficient cash in lower denominations with us, anticipating shortage of currency at the holy hillock in the wake of the demonetisation and withdrawal of the Rs.500 and Rs.1,000,’’ said Ramadurai, an octogenarian Guruswami from Villupuram in Tamil Nadu, who reached Sabarimala along with a 27-member team of pilgrims on Tuesday.
Many pilgrims who talked to The Hindu here on Tuesday when the Ayyappa temple was opened for the two-month Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season shared more or less the same thought.
But, all of them said they had to struggle a lot to mobilise lower-denomination currency notes before embarking on their pilgrimage to Sabarimala.
“Keeping more bundles of notes was another inconvenience we faced,’’ said another Guruswami from Karnataka.
However, the traders at Pampa have reportedly started feeling the heat of the demonetisation. R. Ramachandran Nair, a hoteleer at Pampa, told The Hindu that shortage of lower-denomination currency was a major problem merchants of Sabarimala faced.
Meanwhile, Dhanalakshmi Bank, the official bankers of the Travancore Devaswom Board, has opened special counters for currency exchange at Sabarimala Sannidhanam and at Pampa. P. Manikantan, Dhanalakshmi Bank general manager, said two ATMs had already been functioning at Sannidhanam and one at Pampa.
The bank had arranged sufficient lower-denomination currency notes to meet the growing demand for the same at Sabarimala in the coming days.
Mr. Manikantan said the bank was also exploring the possibility of installing more ATMs at Sabarimala, if the TDB allotted space for the same, and telecom connectivity.
The State Bank of Travancore too has got an ATM each at Sannidhanam and Pampa that started functioning on Tuesday evening, according to bank sources.
