A record number of 4,336 Indian pilgrims, including 832 women and 222 children, are set to start off on Saturday for the two-day annual St Antony’s Church festival at uninhabited Katchatheevu in the Palk Bay.
“This is the highest number of pilgrims ever booked for the pilgrimage,” Rev Fr. L. Sagayaraj, Verkodu (Rameswaram) Parish Priest and chief coordinator of the pilgrimage, told The Hindu .
Only around 2,500 pilgrims were registered from Sri Lanka, and the Tamil Nadu government believed to have expressed its reservation over the high number of pilgrims booked this year.
The number, however, could not be downsized this year and all the registered pilgrims would be distributed identity cards through the boat owners on Wednesday, Fr Sagayaraj said, adding 112 trawlers, including two reserve boats, had been booked for the pilgrimage.
Last year, 3,160 pilgrims, including 528 women and 116 children, undertook the pilgrimage, he said. The number of pilgrims was more this year as a section of them wanted to visit the island out of curiosity while Catholic Christians desired to undertake pilgrimage during the lent days, he said. The pilgrims included about 300 Fathers and Sisters, and 250 from Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
