PANDALAM : Devaswom Minister V S Sivakumar on Friday said that 800 volunteers would be deployed for cleaning operations during the coming Sabarimala pilgrimage season as against 700 during the last season.
He said this while presiding over a review meeting on the preparations for the coming Sabarimala pilgrimage season at Pandalam Valiyakoyickal Sree Dharma Sastha temple auditorium on Friday. Of the 800 sanitation volunteers, 100 will be deployed at Pandalam alone, the minister said. For crowd management, 100 police personnel will be deployed at Pandalam in view of the increasing number of pilgrims, Sivakumar said.
Sabarimala Roads
The minister said that the maintenance work on all important Sabarimala roads would be completed before the end of October.
Instructions in this regard had already been given to the PWD authorities at the high-level review meeting chaired by the Chief Minister in Thiruvananthapuram the other day, the minister said.
Sivakumar also ruled out fund shortage for undertaking repair works on Sabarimala roads. For parking facilities for pilgrims at Pandalam, the district administration in association with the Travancore Devaswom Board would locate and provide parking area for the pilgrims, he said.
In view of shortage of space for free food distribution at Pandalam Valiyakoickal temple, temporary arrangements will be made for the same. Ambulance and temporary fire and rescue station would start functioning during the season. Temporary check-dams will be built in Achenkovil river for bathing facilities, he said.For taking up schemes for pilgrim amenities, the government will sanction `20 lakh for Pandalam panchayat and `15 lakhforKulanada panchayat.