THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed officers to set up basic infrastructure facilities at Pampa by the first week of November, before the annual pilgrimage season starts.The Chief Minister was speaking at a meeting to review the arrangements for the pilgrimage season. The meeting decided against new buildings at flood-ravaged Pampa and to develop Nilakkal as the future base camp.
Arrangements will be made to facilitate devotees to take a ritualistic bath in the river. A temporary nadapandal or resting place will also be set up within the stipulated time. The pre-fab structure will be built at a cost of `3 crore. All commercial establishments on the river bank will be shifted to Nilakkal.
PWD secretary G Kamalavardhana Rao told the meeting that the bridge across the Pampa at Triveni is safe. A taller bridge will be built once the pilgrimage season is over. The Chief Minister asked officers to set up all arrangements in Nilakkal with a view to develop it as the future base camp.
At present, the transit camp in Nilakkal can accommodate 2,000 devotees. The new facility will be able to accommodate 2,000 more. In future, another facility will come up where 6,000 persons will be able to take rest.
Sixty lakh litres of drinking water will be stored at the Nilakkal camp every day. For this, water will be brought from the treatment plants at Pampa. Two borewells each will be dug at Nilakkal and Pampa KSRTC bus station.
The meeting was attended by Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, TDB president A Padmakumar, state police chief Loknath Behera, Devaswom secretary Jyothilal, Forest principal secretary Dr V Venu, Water Resources secretary Tinku Biswal, TDB members K Raghavan, K P Sankaradas and commissioner N Vasu.