Post the floods, Pampa is a changed river. It now flows forked from the Pampa Triveni, where it confluences with the Kakki and the Kullar rivers. One branch of it flows by the service road and the other by the mainland on the western side.
The deluge has changed many other landmarks too. The portion of the riverbank that once used to house the Ramamurthy Mandapam is now an island with just the basement of the massive structure remaining. The toilet complexes are still flooded. The Nadappanthal, with mangled remains of its steel roof, bears a haunted look.
The flash floods had totally cut off the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala from the mainland. The hill shrine would otherwise be teeming with pilgrims at this time of the year. But since the flood, no one could reach the shrine to participate in the monthly rituals held during the Onam festival season.
The Travancore Devaswom Board is, however, trying to set the scene to as it was before. It workers are collecting big stones from the riverbed and dumping it on the river course to build a pathway linking the damaged footbridge to the service road on the eastern bank of the river that has been isolated by the flood. The whole work reminds one of the mythical ‘rama sethu’ for which boulders were used to build a bridge over the ocean linking Indian mainland to Sri Lanka.
Efforts are also on by the TDB to restore the earlier river course of the Pampa by bulldozing the sand deposited on the right side of the Triveni Bridge and diverting the river flow by piling up sand bags on the riverbed.
One-way system for vehicles
A. Padmakumar, the TDB president, told The Hindu that there would be vehicular traffic regulation between Laha and Pampa on the main trunk road leading to Sabarimala from the next monthly ritual period. All Pampa-bound vehicles would have to take the Vadasserikkara-Perinad route, while those returning from Pampa will have to ply via the Angamoozhy-Seethathode route to reach Vadasserikkara, he said.
Mr Padmakumar said no private vehicles would be permitted beyond Nilackal and parking facility would be provided to all vehicles at the Nilackal base camp. The KSRTC would conduct Pampa-Nilackal-Pampa circular service to ensure a hassle-free transport facility for the pilgrims during the annual pilgrim season, he said.
A senior IAS officer would coordinate the functioning of various government departments at Sabarimala.
