The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will explore the possibility of providing free transport facility for pilgrims between the base camp at Nilackal and Pampa, the board president, A. Padmakumar, has said.
Mr. Padmakumar, accompanied by K.P. Sankaradas and N. Vijayakumar, board members, was interacting with mediapersons here on Sunday.
According to him, the idea is to deploy electric vehicles on the Nilackal-Pampa route through sponsorship. Certain devotees had come forward with sponsorships, he said.
Mr. Padmakumar said the board was planning to launch the project on an experimental basis, in consultation with the government and the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, during the Vishu festival in April.
He said it would require 50 electric buses for the proposed project.
Pilgrim amenity
Mr. Pamakumar said the TDB and the government would prioritise various pilgrim amenity schemes to be launched at Sabarimala and at various transit camps of pilgrims immediately after the culmination of the ongoing pilgrim season.
He said setting up of self-contained transit camps for pilgrims at a suitable location in every 50 km along the National Highways as well as the MC Road was a dream project of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The work on the first transit camp would be launched at Kazhakuttam in Thiruvananthapuram, he said.
He said the proposed bridge across river Pampa, linking Pampa Hilltop with the Ganapati temple, would begin in March.
Mr. Padmakumar said the proposed ₹108-crore Nilackal Drinking Water Supply Scheme would address the drinking water problem at the base camp.
Women’s entry
When asked about the controversial women’s entry at Sabarimala, Mr. Padmakumar said the TDB had never stated that all women should be permitted to Sabarimala.
Instead, the board had moved the Supreme Court seeking time for implementing the verdict, he said. The TDB did not opt for filing a review petition as the legal opinion it received for the same was in the negative.
Mr. Padmakumar said there were many custom, tradition and practices that had been violated at Sabarimala in the past. Earth-filling of the temple pond, Bhasmakulam, panchaloha covering for the holy 18-steps, and unscientific extension of the temple complex were testimony to violations, he said.
Mr. Padmakumar said the TDB was trying to rectify many of these defects, and construction of a new Bhasmakulam at its old site would be given priority.
