The recently inaugurated annex of Sreevalsam Guest House of Guruvayur Devaswom meant to provide stay for the devotees at reasonable rates and inaugurated with much fanfare on February 28 has not yet been opened for use.
This has affected hundreds of devotees visiting the Lord Sree Krishna Temple here during the Vishu season.
The new annex has as many as 108 rooms. As an extension of the Sreevalsam Guest House which has six suite at present, as many as 19 rooms have been constructed along with the annex.
The new annex comprises as many as 28 air-conditioned rooms, 51 non-AC rooms, and 10 dormitories. The dormitories can occupy as many as 100 persons at a time.
The five-storey annex was built at an expense of `11 crore. But, most of the devotees currently visiting the Lord Sree Krishna Temple were upset about the non-availability of rooms in the temple town.
There was an unprecedented rush at the temple during the Vishu season. Besides, the schools have also been closed for summer vacation, and thus they are finding it difficult to get rooms for stay in private lodges.
When Express spoke to Chairman of Guruvayur Devaswom (GD) Managing Committee, T V Chandramohan over the issue, he said that the delay was owing to some issues related to the appointment of workers for cleaning and maintenance service at the new annex. “We have no permission to appoint permanent staff for providing such service.
There are several issues if we appoint temporary staff for the purpose. So the GD managing committee has taken a decision to outsource the cleaning and maintenance work to a private firm. The paper works with regard to calling forth tenders for the purpose is on.
As soon as we complete the formalities, the annex will be open to devotees,” he said. However, the chairman could not give a timeline for the opening of the annex and said that it would be done at the earliest. He also said that outsourcing of the cleaning and maintenance work would be done on a pilot basis. “If the experiment is a success, the GD will carry on with outsourcing such works,” he said. Pending Works Express has learnt from officials associated with GD that for most of the rooms, RUBCO, which is the agency to provide furniture, has not provided the same.
“Some electrical works are still pending and the lift is also not operational for the five-storey annex. We had started renting out some rooms of the extension building a few days ago,
which has all the facilities. But, as we were not able to carry out the cleaning works properly, there were some complaints and stopped renting the rooms.
Hopefully, in a few days at least some rooms of the extension building can be opened to devotees with temporary arrangements made for cleaning,” the officials said.
The electrical work of the annex is being conducted by the same contractor, who did the civil works and both the works are being monitored by an expert committee.
The electrical department of the devaswom is overseeing the electrical work of the building.
The chairman said that lack of furniture was not a major issue as at least the rooms with proper furniture could be given on rent for the devotees. Meanwhile, several organisations of devotees here have come out in protest against the delay in opening the annexe even after one-and-a-half months after its official inauguration by Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala in the presence of Devaswom Minister V S Sivakumar on February