SABARIMALA: The Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple was opened on Wednesday for the 21-long Makaravilakku season.Melsanthi Jayaraj Potti opened the sreekovil of the temple in the presence of Thantri Kandararu Rajivaru at 5pm. As per the ongoing practice of the temple, no ritual will be performed in the evening.
The delay in giving clearance for the Covid test laboratory by opting for RT-LAMP system at Nilakkal may pose a daunting task for the Travancore Devaswom Board. With the TDB authorities allowing the pilgrims to leave Nilakkal for darshan at 4am on Thursday, the issue could only be resolved with the immediate clearance from the health department.In the absence of a laboratory, pilgrims would be forced to wait at Nilakkal at least for four hours before the collected samples are tested at the nearest laboratory either at Kozhenchery or Pathanamthitta.