With just a couple of days left for the first phase of the annual pilgrimage season at Sabarimala to end, the routes leading to the holy hillock have been overwhelmed by devotees.
The police have resorted to traffic regulations at various points like Erumely to bring the crowd under control. In the traditional trekking path from Pampa to the Sannidhanam, they were made to wait in long queues before finally ascending the 18 holy steps.
Spot bookings
As per official estimates, over 97,000 pilgrims visited the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple on Saturday (December 23). According to the Travancore Devaswom Board, as many as 25,69,671 devotees have visited the temple this season till December 23. “The spot bookings per day currently stands around 10,000 while the High Court has granted us permission to raise it up to 15,000. We may decide on it in consultation with the State government during the Makaravilakku season,” said P.S. Prasanth, president, TDB.
In a bid to ease the rush, the board has restricted the virtual queue booking for December 26 and 27 at 64,000 and 70,000 respectively. The ceiling of virtual queue bookings, however, will return to 80,000 in January.
Appam, Aravana sale
Meanwhile, the board has dismissed the reports of it restricting the distribution of Appam and Aravana, the key offerings at the hill temple. “There was a delay in delivering the jaggery load due to the traffic issues. The load, which was scheduled to be delivered by December 22 evening, arrived only the next morning. In view of this, we had to regulate the distribution of offerings for a few hours,” said Mr. Prashanth.
According to him, the board has contracted companies in Maharashtra to supply three loads of jaggery (32 tonnes each) for manufacturing the offerings. To ensure seamless distribution of these offerings during the next phase, the TDB will procure 5 lakh kilograms of jaggery from local suppliers. The tenders in this regard will be floated on December 25.
“We will be able to meet the demand for these offerings for the entire Makaravilakku season once we take delivery of this additional load,” he added.
Puja schedule change
Meanwhile, there will be a change in the puja schedule at the temple in connection with the Mandalapuja. On Tuesday afternoon, the temple will be reopened only at 5 p.m. as against the normal schedule of 3 p.m. In view of the Mandalapuja the next morning, Neyyabhishekam ritual will be held only till 9.45 a.m. as against the normal schedule of 11.30 a.m.
