The Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom (ABASS) has started work on the proposed service road linking Pampa-Triveni and Njunangar banks at Pampa on the foothills of Sabarimala.
The ground is being levelled with earthmovers and the contractors have already demolished two latrine blocks behind the main latrine complex and filled a sewage tank with earth at Pampa-Triveni as part of the work.
According to ABASS president Thennala Balakrishna Pillai the 1200-metre long, 10-metre wide proposed road is estimated to cost Rs.1.5 crore. The Sanghom has taken up the project as a service to Ayyappa devotees across the globe.
The service road project is part of the Sabarimala Master Plan prepared by the Delhi-based Ecosmart attached to IL&FS Limited and is aimed at easing congestion at the Pampa during the annual pilgrimage season.
Transportation of materials through the existing road, cutting across the Pampa riverbed, is an ordeal during the pilgrim season. The service road will be used exclusively for transporting materials and ailing people, without hindering the pilgrims' flow on the Pampa ‘manalpuram' road.
Crowd management experts feel that the service road would make transportation of injured pilgrims and movement of medical as well as rescue teams easy in the event of an emergency.
Mr. Pillai said ABASS had spared 20 cents of land at Pampa for road construction. He said the Sanghom would mobilise fund for road construction from among its members and supporters.
The ground has already been levelled along 450 metres from Pampa-Triveni. Concreting of the road would be done in a width of seven-and-a-half metres and a fly-over would be constructed to bypass the steps leading to the Maha Ganapathi Temple at Pampa.
Mr. Pillai said ABASS has prepared an action plan for time-bound completion of the road work. Sabarimala Tantri (chief priest) Kandararu Rajeevaru has performed the Bhumipuja, launching of the road project at Pampa on March 19.
