NILAKKAL/SABARIMALA: As each vehicle approaches the entry check post at Nilakkal, police personnel carefully scan the people inside to check whether there is any young woman or not. Since Friday morning, hundreds of private vehicles are arriving at Nilakkal base camp and police personnel are making sure that all vehicles are thoroughly checked for any miscreants as well as young women. Nearly 1,000 police personnel are deployed at Nilakkal alone to prevent any untoward incident.
“If we spot a young woman, we have to immediately shift her to a secure place. Though no protestors are openly camping at Nilakkal, they will group immediately when they see a young woman,” said a police officer.
Police have also decided to restrict movement of pilgrims from Nilakkal to Pampa to control crowding of pilgrims at Sannidhanam. Thrissur City Police Chief Yatish Chandra, who has been given the charge of law and order in Nilakkal, told Express pilgrims would be allowed to proceed to Pampa only three hours prior to opening of the sanctum sanctorum at Sannidhanam.
“As Pampa lacks the required facilities to hold the crowd, all pilgrims reaching Pampa are proceeding to Sannidhanam and camping there. This is putting a lot of pressure at Sannidhanam. So considering this, pilgrims reaching Nilakkal by 8 pm will not be allowed to proceed to Pampa,” he said. A three- point vehicle checking has been introduced to ensure that only genuine devotees reach Nilakkal to visit Sabarimala.
“We have taken adequate security measures and will not allow any sort of protest in Nilakkal. No Hindu outfits will be allowed to check vehicles or even KSRTC buses coming to Nilakkal,” Yatish Chandra said. Intelligence officers said police personnel in plain clothes are travelling as passengers in all KSRTC bound to Pampa to keep a track on the pilgrims and report to special units if they find activities of any pilgrim suspicious. “We will try our best to keep track of trouble makers who are planning to group at Sannidhanam to organise protests,” another police officer said.