SABARIMALA: Manufacturing of appam prasadam here came to a standstill, following restrictions imposed by the executive magistrate on the rice used for the production.
With the buffer stock of appam remained only at 80,000 packets at devaswom godowns, the pilgrims will have to go without the prasadam from Monday.
As the order issued by the executive magistrate on Sunday on the basis of a Supreme Court order of 2015 restricting the use of rice offering by devotees kept in the “irumudi” for appam production, the devaswom authorities are forced to stop manufacturing the prasadam.
The order of the magistrate put the devaswom authorities in quandary as the purchase of rice production will be a long-winding process like inviting tenders. As the devaswom tender process will take another one week, the production will remain at a standstill. With hardly one week left for the peak Makaravilakku season, the latest order will cause problems for the devaswom authorities as well as lakhs of pilgrims. As the prasadam stock could meet the demand for another day, the sentiments of the pilgrims will be affected.
Ayyappa Seva Sangham flays order
The Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sangham has flayed the order of the executive magistrate issued at the fag-end of the pilgrimage season. The suspension of prasadam production on the basis of the court order of 2015 will have far-reaching consequences on the pilgrimage and will hurt the religious sentiments of lakhs of pilgrims, ABASS national vice-president D Vijayakumar said. The Travancore Devaswom Board should act immediately against the order in the larger interests of the pilgrims, he said.