Not less than 5.5 lakh pilgrims have availed the Annadanam offered by the Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom (ABASS) at Pampa, Sannidhanam and Karimala during the ongoing pilgrimage season as on Friday, according to the Sanghom general secretary, N. Velayudhan Nair.
ABASS is the only agency that has been serving food (Annadanam) to pilgrims at Karimala on the Erumely-Pampa-Sannidhanam path cutting across the interior dense forests.
The Sanghom veteran, Gurumurthy Chettiar, an 88-year-old grocer from Salem in Tamil Nadu, has been heading the Annadanam team at the ABASS camp at Karimala for the past 15 years.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Nair said the Sanghom had hired 40 workers for transporting one tonne rice, provisions and vegetables from Pampa to Karimala on a daily basis for conducting Annadanam.
1.25 lakh pilgrims and counting
As many as 1.25 lakh pilgrims had already attended the Annadanam at Karimala, Mr. Nair said.
The Ayyappa Seva Sanghom camp serves rice gruel (kanji) and medicated drinking water to the pilgrims round-the-clock at its Karimala camp, besides providing free night shelter and first-aid facility to them.
It was Mr. Gurumurthy who had initiated the ABASS camp in the service of Sabarimala pilgrims at Karimala, after witnessing the plight of Ayyappa devotees on this 48-km traditional forest route leading to Sabarimala. He had sold out his landed property and set apart ₹1 crore for free feeding of pilgrims at Karimala, said Mr. Nair.
Mr. Nair said not less than 4 lakh pilgrims had attended the Annadanam at its Sannidhanam camp and 50,000 pilgrims at the Pampa camp as on Friday.
The ABASS has opened as many as 21 full-fledged camps at Sabarimala and surrounding forest areas, besides those at the Ernakulam and Chengannur railway stations, extending maximum possible assistance to the the Ayyappa devotees.
A large number of pilgrims had been attending the Annadanam at the ABASS camp at Vandipperiyar-Sathram too from the very first day of the ongoing pilgrim season, he said.
Mr. Nair said the camps at Valiyanavattom and Azhutha would be opened on December 30.
Stretcher unit
The Sanghom vice-president, D.Vijayakumar, said the free stretcher service at 30 different points, including Karimala and Valiyanavattom, had been another mainstay of ABASS at Sabarimala.
The ABASS had also opened a free automobile workshop at the Nilackal base camp for the pilgrims coming from different parts of the country, he said.
