Taking a serious note of the pilgrim influx to Sabarimala, the authorities have decided to bring down the limit of virtual queue bookings by 10,000 to 80,000 per day. The decision in this regard was arrived at on Saturday evening during a meeting between the Devaswom Minister K.Radhakrishnan and P.S. Prasanth, president of the Travancore Devaswom Board. Meanwhile, the windows opened for spot bookings at pre-designated locations will continue to function as normal. In a statement, Mr.Prasanth said the devotees were being provided all basic facilities at Nilackal, Pampa and Sannidhanam including timely access to medical care. The dynamic queue system launched by the Board has become fully functional at the Marakuttattam queue complex and this has been helpful in controlling the rush of devotees to a great extent. An unprecedented influx of pilgrims, especially from the neighbouring States, has threatened to derail the crowd management system on the holy hillock, prompting an intervention by the High Court as well.
Left with no other option, the police have begun regulating the vehicles carrying pilgrims to Sabarimala at different points and a long queue of vehicles could be seen along the forest route from Nilackal to Thulappally. The Erumely town, an important base station to the hill temple, too has turned chock a block with the influx of pilgrims. Taking note of the huge rush, the authorities have deployed one more ambulance at Sannidhanam.
