The claim of the Kerala Police that they had not been receiving any amount for the service rendered at Sabarimala during pilgrimage season in the past has been proved wrong. Information made available under the RTI Act has flattened its claim.
According to the information provided to an RTI applicant here, the executive officer, Sabarimala, has stated that the Police Department was given Rs 35 lakh as mess allowance during the pilgrimage season in 2010-11. The initial efforts to get access to the information were hampered when the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) showed reluctance in passing the information.
Following this, he filed an appeal with the State Information Commissioner who, in turn, asked the Sabarimala executive officer to provide the information without fail.
The interesting fact is that the Kerala Police had always denied receiving any amount from the TDB for the services rendered in Sabarimala.
It has been pointed out that while it is a Constitutional obligation of the police to provide security to the citizens, accepting money for providing service will amount to its violation.
The TDB has also revealed that it had paid Rs 4,49,81,578 and Rs 4,94,76,436 to the KSEB respectively for the year 2009-10 and 2010-11 as electricity charge for Sabarimala, Pampa and Nilakkal Devaswoms and for the street lights in these areas.
‘’The government is taxing Hindu pilgrimages like what the Mughal emperors had done to the Hindus. It is against the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution of the country,’’ Hindu Aikyavedi state president K P Sasikala told ‘Express.’
She said that the State Government was receiving over Rs 10,000 crore as revenue from Sabarimala pilgrims arriving from various South Indian states and Maharashtra. ‘’Instead of taxing the devotees, the government should have stepped in to provide security free of cost,’’ she said.
Sasikala alleged that while the commercial tariff of the KSEB was Rs 12 per unit, at Sabarimala it charge up to Rs 17 per unit.
DGP Jacob Punnoose told ‘Express’ that there was no such ‘’philosophical’’ issues involved as Devaswom Board was offsetting the additional expense incurred on food by the policemen.
‘’A Rs 20-meal at Pathanamthitta would cost Rs 50 at Sabarimala as extra labour cost is involved. To reduce the extra burden, the Devaswom Board was providing the mess subsidy to the policemen. Per head it amounts to Rs 16 to Rs 18 a day. As there are large number of policemen engaged in Sabarimala duty, only a small portion of their food expense is subsidised while all other government employees get ‘annadanam’ worth Rs 100 a day free of cost,’’ he said.
He admitted that Rs 35 lakh was received as mess subsidy in 2010-11. Referring to the Police Department’s denial of accepting any amount, he clarified that, ‘’As per the definition of law, food subsidy of the police personnel cannot be considered as government fund. In that case there was no question of RTI cover,’’ he clarified.
He further said that in December 2011, it was the State Government which paid the subsidy worth Rs 68 lakh.