New Sabarimala melsanthi P N Narayanan Nampoothiri opened the Sreekovil of Lord Ayyappa temple at 4 am on Saturday, marking the beginning of the 41-day long Mandala Pooja season. Heavy rush was witnessed at Sannidhanam when the Sreekovil was opened in the morning.
The flyover, Lower Thirumuttom and Valiyapandal were jampacked with pilgrims.
In order to facilitate the travel of pilgrims who wish to go to Pampa, the KSRTC has started special bus services from the Ernakulam railway station and KSRTC bus station from Friday night onwards. According to KSRTC officials, the Corporation has arranged four regular services directly from the Ernakulam bus station to Pampa. The services will operate at 9 am, 10 am, 6.30 pm and 9 pm. Five new buses have been deployed at the Ernakulam depot to assist pilgrims who arrive there.
“Until last year only three fixed schedules with reservation facilities were operated. However, this year, we have decided to operate an extra service at 6.30 pm from the Ernakulam bus station via Thiruvankulam, Piravom and Pala to Pampa. This will hugely benefit pilgrims who wish to travel to Pampa,” said C K Radhakrishnan, ATO, Ernakulam KSRTC.
Hibi Eden MLA inaugurated the service on Saturday. Along with the fixed services, the KSRTC will deploy more buses to Pampa based on demand. Six KSRTC buses are stationed at at the Ernakulam Junction Railway Station on a daily basis for pilgrims who arrive from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. A special counter in regard to this facility has been opened at the Ernakulam Junction railway station. Special announcements will be made in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam for to inform pilgrims of the available services.
Swamipaadam Released
Swamipaadam, an ‘Express’ special feature on Sabarimala pilgrimage, was released here on Saturday morning, the first day of Malayalam month Vrischikam. At a function held at the Sopanam of the Lord Ayyappa temple, Thantri Kandararu Maheswararu handed over the first copy to Devaswom Minister V S Sivakumar in the presence of Travancore Devaswom Board president M P Govindan Nair.