‘No restriction on flow of Sabarimala pilgrims’

Chief Secretary and Chief Devaswom Commissioner K Jayakumar has allayed the fears over the reports of imposing restrictions on the flow of pilgrims to Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple. Speaking to Express, Jayakumar said the that state government had already filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court regarding the annual flow of crores of pilgrims to Sabarimala.

He said that the recent reports on the move to impose curbs were connected with the visit of tourists to wildlife sanctuaries, including tiger reserves, across the country and was in no way connected to the pilgrims. “Though the Sabarimala shrine falls within a tiger reserve area, the pilgrim centre is located on the fringe areas of the reserve and not in the core sectors. There will not be any curbe on the pilgirm to Sabarimala in the season,” Jayakumar said.

“The report submitted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests is connected to the formulation of general guidelines for the protection of sanctuaries, especially in other parts of the country, where endangered species face several threats,” he said.

He added that the furore over the move to impose restrictions on the flow of pilgrims to Sabarimala is unfounded and baseless.