SABARIMALA: The slowdown in the transportation of jaggery, the important ingredient for the production of aravana and appam prasadams, from Pampa to Sannidhanam will hit prasadam production, thereby affecting the buffer stock. The inadequate number of personnel with the laboratory of the Food Safety Department at Pampa to check the quality of the standards of jaggery before transportation through tractors is the cause for the slowdown in the movement of the raw material. The availability of two laboratory personnel as against the four has affected the quality test and the consequent clearance of the quality standard that is needed before the transportation of jaggery from Pampa to Sannidhanam, a devaswom source said.
As against the daily requirement of 35,000 kg of jaggery for the production of aravana and appam production at Sannidhanam, the availability of the raw material stands at 18,000 kg at present. The slowdown in the transportation of raw material has also affected the production of aravana prasadam to one lakh containers a day from two lakh containers, the source said.
Buffer stock of aravana down
The slowdown in the transportation of jaggery and the subsequent low production have affected the buffer stock of aravana to 24 lakh containers from 30 lakh. With the daily demand for aravana picking up to 1.5 lakh containers on the second day of the mandalam season on Friday from one lakh containers on Thursday and with the increased flow of pilgrims for darshan in the weekend, the buffer stock position would go down again, the source said.
The heavy flow of pilgrims on Swami Ayyappan Road has affected the movement of tractors carrying jaggery to Sannidhanam. The curbs on the movement of tractors during night time will also affect the transportation of jaggery, the source said.