Sabarimala thantri expressed difficulty in extending darshan timings, TDB tells Kerala HC
KOCHI: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) on Saturday informed the Kerala High Court that the Sabarimala thantri has expressed his opinion that extending the temple timings beyond 17 hours daily would be difficult. This is because both thantri and melsanthi have to remain at Sannidhanam during the entire season. The TDB president had discussed the matter with the thantri, said TDB’s counsel.
The TDB also informed the court that considering the total footfall at Sannidhanam, the board limited the number of ‘ashtabhishekam’ and ‘pushpabhishekam’ to 15 per day. The devaswom bench comprising Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice P G Ajithkumar held a special sitting in the wake of the heavy flow of devotees to Sannidhanam.
The bench pointed out that when the average footfall at Sabarimala reaches 80,000-90,000 pilgrims per day, 70-80 pilgrims will have to move through the holy steps in a minute. During the current Mandala-Makaravilakku festival season, nearly 20% of the total pilgrims are women and children. Besides, there are senior citizens and persons with disability, who require more attention while climbing the holy steps, the bench observed.
When the total footfall per day reaches 90,000, the pilgrims who reach Sabarimala based on virtual-Q booking have to wait in the queue for a long period for darshan, since the average spot booking even crosses 20,000. Currently, the total darshan time is 17 hours daily – from 3 am to 1 pm and 4 pm to 11 pm. If an average of 75 pilgrims climb the holy steps per minute, the maximum number of pilgrims who can enter Sannidhanam per hour will be 4,500.
When the darshan timing is 17 hours a day, the maximum number of pilgrims who can climb the holy steps when the temple remains open will be 76,500. If the darshan timing is increased by two hours, as done during the previous festival season, a total of 85,500 pilgrims can have darshan on the very same day. But a decision in this regard can be taken after seeking the opinion from the thantri, the bench observed.
11-yr-old pilgrim collapses at Appachimedu, dies
P’Thitta: An 11-year-old girl who collapsed while waiting for darshan at Appachimedu in Sabarimala died at Pampa Hospital on Saturday. The deceased is Padmasree, daughter of Kumar and Jayalakshmi, of Pappanaickenpatti, Salem, Tamil Nadu. The doctors said the girl collapsed around 4.15 pm. “We tried to save her life, but she died around 5 pm. Her father told us that she had developed heart-related ailments when she was three years old. We decided to hand over the body to the girl’s father with the permission of the police,” said hospital authorities.
Crowd management: HC impleads DIG of CRPF
Kochi: The High Court on Saturday suo motu impleaded DIG of Police, Group Centre, CRPF, Pallipuram, as an additional respondent in a case about the crowd management at Sabarimala during Mandala-Makaravilakku season. The division bench headed by Justice Anil K Narendran sought the opinion of the Union government on the deployment of CRPF personnel to manage the crowd. Union government counsel informed that 113 Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel are already on duty at Sabarimala.