Pilgrims wait for 6 hours for having darshan at Sabarimala

Jam-packed queues were witnessed when the temple was opened for darshan at 3 am, which had begun when the temple was closed at 11 pm.
Pilgrims wait in queues for darshan at Sannidhanam on Sunday.(Photo | EPS/Shaji Vettipuram)
Pilgrims wait in queues for darshan at Sannidhanam on Sunday.(Photo | EPS/Shaji Vettipuram)

SABARIMALA: Pilgrims were forced to stand for six hours in long queues for Lord Ayyappa’s darshan on Sunday as the heavy rush of devotees continued for the second day. Jam-packed queues were witnessed when the temple was opened for darshan at 3 am, which had begun when the temple was closed at 11 pm on Saturday.

The flyover at Sopanam, holy steps, lower Thirumuttom, Valiyanadapandal were filled with pilgrims and the long wait of pilgrims continued till 11.30 am when neyyabhishekam closed the day’s proceedings forcing hundreds of pilgrims to wait for 16 hours till 3.30 am on Sunday for the ritual. Police found it hard to control the crowd at the holy steps and valiyanadapandal even after six hours of the
opening of the temple.

Heavy crowd seen at prasadam counters

Heavy crowd of pilgrims was witnessed for buying aravana and appam prasadam at lower Thirumuttom and Mallikkappuram. The devaswom authorities opened special counters for the sale of coupon and distribution of aravana and appam prasadam at the main venue at lower Thirumuttom. At Mallikkappuram too, two more additional counters were opened in view of the unprecedented rush of pilgrims.

Long queue at free food centres

A long queue of pilgrims was witnessed at the free food centres of the Travancore Devaswom Board and the Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sangham at Mallikkappuram.

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