Sabarimala opens for devotees, huge footfall expected for 1st post-Covid pilgrimage

Sabarimala opens for devotees, huge footfall expected for 1st post-Covid pilgrimage

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Sabarimala, Nov 17, 2022: The sanctum sanctorum of the famed Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district was opened on Wednesday evening-the eve of the beginning of the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season. The two-month-long annual pilgrimage is set to commence today.

 

The pilgrimage season this year is expected to see a 40 to 50 per cent increase in devotees in the absence of the COVID-19 restrictions. The 41-day Mandala puja festival will conclude on December 27. The temple will be opened again on December 30 for the Makaravilakku pilgrimage, which will end on January 14, 2023. The shrine will be closed on January 20, 2023 concluding the pilgrim season.

On Wednesday, Kerala Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan said that unlike the last two years, when the pilgrimage was held according to strict COVID-19 guidelines that limited devotees to around 30,000 each day, this year there were no limits on the number of pilgrims who can come for darshan.

 

#WATCH | Devotees throng Sabarimala Temple in Kerala to offer prayers as the temple opened for them today.

(Source: Sabarimala Temple Authority) pic.twitter.com/t6v6634Agc

— ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2022

“We expect a huge turnout this year. There is no limit on the number of devotees who can come per day. We expect a 40 to 50 per cent increase in pilgrims compared to previous two years," the minister told the news agency PTI.

Travancore Devaswom Board president K Ananthagopan shared a similar view and said that close to 30,000 devotees turned up for darshan on Wednesday evening.

Huge Turnout Expected This Pilgrimage Season

On Thursday, when the 41-day long annual pilgrimage season begins, close to 50,000 devotees are expected according to virtual queue registrations till now and these numbers are likely to increase as more pilgrims would come via spot booking, he said.

“There are more than 40,000 bookings per day via virtual queue alone for the coming days. In the next 10 days around 7 lakh devotees are expected to come. Last year, during the entire season, around 27 lakh pilgrims had come for darshan," Ananthagopan said.

Arrangements For Crowd Management

Radhakrishnan said that in expectation of the huge turnout, extensive arrangements have been made for a safe and smooth pilgrimage for which all concerned departments have worked in tandem.

For the convenience of devotees arriving in Sabrimala from all parts of the country, the administration has decided to display information in all the languages of the southern states at the temple, the minister said.

Radhakrishan also said that all Devaswom Boards in the state have worked together to ensure that pilgrims have a place to stay at the Edathavalams (temporary halting place) under their control and that proper facilities are available there.

Arrangements have also been made by the police, the Health and Transport departments and the local administration to ensure that the large numbers of devotees expected this year have a safe and smooth pilgrimage during this period.

According to a release issued by the state’s health department, a 24-hour Sabarimala ward, with 18 beds equipped with all state-of-the-art facilities, has been set up at the Pathanamthitta General Hospital where life-saving drugs, equipment and lab tests would be available free of cost.

It also said that arrangements have been made to make sure that any pilgrim experiencing chest pain or cardiac arrest will be attended to within five minutes by health workers and transported immediately to a hospital.

Health workers have been deployed to help elderly devotees if they find it difficult to climb the hill-top shrine, the department said.

To prevent accidents and provide assistance in emergencies on the over 400 kms of roads which form part of the pilgrimage route, the Motor Vehicles Department has come out with the ‘Safe Zone’ project.

The initiative was announced by State Transport Minister Antony Raju who said that as part of the project, MVD teams would be patrolling the pilgrimage routes 24/7 and a quick response team with ambulance, crane and recovery system has also been deployed.

Using the latest technology, the pilgrimage routes would be monitored from three control rooms set up as part of the project.

Aerial surveillance, deployment of more than 13,000 policemen, including Intelligence officials and commandos, and CCTV cameras are part of the arrangements the Kerala police has made to ensure a smooth, safe and secure pilgrimage to Sabarimala.

Setting up three temporary police stations, bike patrolling and arrangements to deploy the National Disaster Response Force and the Rapid Action Force, are the other measures taken by the police.

Pathanamthitta District Collector and Chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority Dr Divya S Iyer on Tuesday also carried out an assessment of all the preparations along the main pilgrimage routes.

She and a team of officials also ensured that drinking water, sleeping facilities and toilets were available at all resting camps or edathavalams along the pilgrimage route.

Sabarimala Declared ‘liquor and Drug-free Zone’

The Kerala government has declared the premises of Lord Ayyappa Temple and its nearby areas as “liquor and drug-free zone" in view of the annual festival.

Besides the “Sannidhanam" (temple complex), Pamba, Triveni, Marakoottam, Sabari Peedam and so on, several areas in Perinadu and Kollamula villages in Ranni taluk in Sabrimala were also declared as the liquor and drug-free zones, according to a report by news agency PTI.

An order has been issued banning the consumption and sale of alcohol, drugs and tobacco products in these areas from November 14 to January 22, 2023.