The government has appointed three young IAS officers to coordinate the functioning of various government departments and the Travancore Devaswom Board at Sabarimala during the ongoing Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran has said.
The Minister told reporters here on Wednesday that Chandrashekharan, Premkumar, and Rohit Meena, Assistant Collectors of Alappuzha, Mananthavady and Thalassery respectively, would be the festival co-ordinators.
He said the Kerala Water Authority and the TDB had made elaborate arrangements for uninterrupted drinking water supply at Sabarimala as well as the pilgrims’ base camps at Pampa and Nilackal in the backdrop of the ban on plastic bottles.
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The TDB has installed six Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants at Sannidhanam, Paandithavalom, and Saramkuthy to produce 3,97,000 litres of safe drinking water a day, according to Prayar Gopalakrishnan, board president, and Ajay Tharayil, member.
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The Minister said the TDB had started free feeding of devotees at its Annadana Mandapam from Tuesday afternoon. As many as 7,000 coupons were distributed for Annadanam on Tuesday evening alone, he said.
Mr. Surendran said the TDB had also provided service of an Emergency Rescue Vehicle for shifting critically ill patients or injured people from Sannidhanam to Pampa.
R. Raghavan, TDB member; C.P. Ramaraja Prema Prasad, Devaswom Commissioner, K.R. Jyotilal, Principal Secretary to Devaswom; G. Muraleekrishnan, Chief Engineer; and Krishnakumar, Executive Engineer; were present.