Less than a day after implementing an abrupt cut in the daily quota of virtual queue bookings, the authorities have decided to extend the darshan time for devotees at Sabarimala during the ongoing pilgrimage season by one more hour.
The decision, which followed a discussion between the Devaswom Minister K.Radhakrishnan and the Sabarimala temple Tantri Kandararu Mahesh Mohanararu, is being implemented amidst signs that the crowds at different points within the pilgrimage zone are dangerously dense. Accordingly, Melshanti P.N. Mahesh Namboothiri opened the temple at 3 p.m on Sunday, taking the overall darshan time per day to 18 hours from 17 hours.
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The move is expected to offer a huge respite to the hundreds of devotees stuck in the queues as well as in their vehicles en route to the temple for several hours.
According to officials with the Travancore Devaswom Board, the virtual queue bookings for Sunday stood around 73,000 while that for the next day is around 90,000.
“If the spot bookings are taken into consideration, the actual number of devotees visiting the temple per day should be well over one lakh,” said a senior TDB official.
The entire pilgrimage zone from Nilackal to Sannidhanam has been witnessing an unprecedented influx of people since Friday, keeping the police and the TDB officials on their toes. People, including young children and aged women, were left with no other options but to stand in queue for up to 14 hours for performing the darshan.
Meanwhile, the roads leading to the hill temple too remained chock-a-block for the third consecutive day. As part of managing the crowd at Pampa and Sannidhanam, police blocked the vehicles at different points such as Laha, Plappally and Thulappally. Being stranded on the road for hours, the pilgrims were made to spend several hours in their vehicles without access to food and drinking water.
The plight of the Sabarimala pilgrims, meanwhile, has also assumed political dimensions with the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party accusing the State government of failing to ensure basic facilities for the pilgrims. The instance in which a 11-year old girl collapsed and died near Appachimedu while waiting for darshan the other day too has drawn sharp criticisms from different quarters.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan in a letter to the Chief Minister, pointed to the lack of basic necessities for the pilgrims and a perceived dispute in the Travancore Devaswom Board, adding to the hardships of the hapless devotees.
KPCC president K. Sudhakaran, meanwhile, urged the Devaswom Minister K. Radhakrishnan to back out from the ongoing Navakerala Sadas to take over the responsibility of coordinating the pilgrimage at Sabarimala.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan and BJP State president K. Surendran too launched a scathing criticism on the State government for its inability to manage the crowd at Sabarimala and warned of protests against the alleged official apathy.
