THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has decided to serve sadya for annadanam to pilgrims at the Sabarimala temple on all days of the upcoming mandala-makaravilakku season.
The board announced the decision at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Friday, which reviewed the arrangements for the pilgrimage season. Other major decisions include an insurance cover of `2 lakh to families of devotees who lose their lives while on the pilgrimage. The TDB will roll out the scheme in association with LIC.
Currently, devotees are provided food four times a day at the hill shrine. The ‘pulao’ served at noon will now be replaced with Keralam-style sadya — with six-plus curries and a payasam. The sadya will not be served on banana leaves, and new large steel plates will be bought for the purpose.
The decision to provide sadya to pilgrims comes weeks after Devaswom Minister K Muraleedharan slammed the TDB over complaints that devotees were denied the customary sadya on Thiruvonam day at the shrine. “We welcome the board’s announcement. The annadanam serving will be sadya this time,” Muraleedharan told TNIE.
Rs 3.25 lakh aravana units to be made daily’
“During Onam festival, staffers were given sadya, and devotees were denied the customary feast. The board made an assurance that such an incident will not happen in future,” said Muraleedharan.
“We have also asked the board to arrange special facilities for senior citizens and also to speed up the tender process for procuring materials for prasadam preparation. Food safety officials’ clearance is a must,” he said.
During the meeting, the CM directed the officials to complete all work before the start of the pilgrimage season itself. Maintaining that pilgrims should be provided with all the facilities and security they need, Satheesan directed the officials to open a joint control room involving all departments at the sannidhanam. A cleanliness drive should be carried out at Pampa, Sabarimala and the transit stations, he said.
Structural soundness of buildings, fire safety systems, and electrical safety should be looked into. Toilet hygiene, cleanliness of the premises, and adequate water supply should also be ensured, he said.
The TDB informed the meeting that the capacity of the aravana manufacturing plant has been increased. Around 3.25 lakh units will be produced daily and a buffer stock of 70 lakh units will be kept ready by the start of the pilgrimage season. A mechanised system will be introduced for packing appam prasadam.
All activities related to the pilgrimage, including accommodation room bookings, will be made digital this year. Around 600 new bio-toilets will be set up. AI cameras will be installed at various locations in Sabarimala at a cost of `3 crore. About 5,000 police personnel will be deployed during the season, while 22 emergency health centres will be opened.
The Railways has announced 300 additional train services. The next review meeting will be held at Pampa in October. Chief Secretary Biswanath Sinha, DGP Rawada A Chandrasekhar, and TDB President K Jayakumar attended the meeting.