THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has drawn up detailed arrangements for this year’s Karkidaka Vavu Bali ritual at its temples. The ritual will be from early morning until noon on August 12.
Adequate numbers of priests will be deployed in proportion to the number of bali mandapams at temples with high footfall.
They include the temples at Thiruvallam, Aranmula, Chengannur, Thirumullavaram and Aluva. Special duty officers, lifeguards, security personnel and daily-wage staff are also being posted across venues for crowd management and to assist devotees.
Temples have been asked to arrange bali mandapams, drinking water points, toilets, showers and queue management systems. Barricading will be set up at busy temples to regulate pilgrim flow. The Board has sought coordination with the police, fire force, health department, KSEB, KWA and KSRTC to ensure essential services for the devotees.
CCTV cameras and monitoring systems are being installed as part of security measures at several temples.
Devotees who wish to perform bali at Sree Parasuramaswamy Temple, Thiruvallam, can buy advance tickets from major temples under the Thiruvananthapuram, Neyyattinkara and Ullur groups of TDB, Puthenchantha Hindumatha Grandhasala and TDB’s book stalls.
Ritual timings
The bali ritual is on August 12 - from early morning to noon. The board has assigned two astrologers to fix the start and end times