PATHANAMTHITTA: With the Sabarimala temple witnessing heavy rush, forcing pilgrims to wait for more than 12 hours to offer darshan, authorities have decided to limit virtual queue booking to 80,000 per day from 90,000.
The decision was taken after a meeting between Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan and Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president P S Prasanth on Saturday. However, the spot booking centres at pre-designated locations will continue to function as normal.
Meanwhile, the TDB maintained that it is not possible to extend the darshan timings beyond 17 hours daily. On Saturday, the board informed the High Court that the Sabarimala thantri has expressed his opinion that extending the temple timings would be difficult. The devaswom bench comprising Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice P G Ajithkumar held the special sitting in the wake of the heavy flow of devotees.
Pathanamthitta District Police Chief Ajith V told TNIE that the hill shrine has been witnessing a heavy rush of pilgrims since Friday morning. “As many as 92,364 pilgrims, including 6,000 children, visited the temple on Friday,” said Ajith.
All facilities ensured at Nilakkal, Pampa and Sannidhanam: TDB
“On Thursday, the footfall was 85,400. There were 90,000 virtual queue bookings and 21,000 spot bookings on Saturday,” he said. “If we need to ensure darshan for 90,000 pilgrims per day, we have to allow 4,600 pilgrims to climb the 18 holy steps in one hour.
Currently, we can allow around 3,500 pilgrims per hour through the holy steps to ensure their safety. In the case of children, elderly and physically challenged pilgrims, we have to give them special attention while climbing the holy steps and it will take time,” said Ajith.
The TDB president told TNIE that the sanctum sanctorum opens for the pilgrims at 3 am and closes at 1 pm. “In the evening, the darshan time is from 4 pm to 11 pm. Now, we are providing 17 hours of darshan time daily. If we again increase darshan time, the chief priests, assistant priests and other employees of the temple will not get time to sleep.
It is not possible to appoint substitutes for the chief priests of the temple. So if we increase the darshan time, it will affect their health. So it is possible to allow only 17 hours for darshan,” he said. Prasanth said they have ensured all basic facilities for pilgrims at Nilakkal, Pampa and Sannidhanam, including timely access to medical care.
The dynamic queue system launched by the board is in full swing and it has helped control the rush of devotees to a great extent. Following the heavy rush of pilgrims, especially from other states, the pilgrim management system has started facing issues, forcing devotees to spend long hours for offering darshan.
The police have also started to control the arrival of the vehicles carrying pilgrims to Sabarimala at different points. This led to a long queue of vehicles along the forest route from Nilakkal to Thulappally on Saturday. Considering the huge rush, authorities have started one more ambulance service at Sannidhanam.
11-year-old pilgrim dies at Sabarimala
Pathanamthitta: A 11-year-old girl, who collapsed while waiting for darshan at Appachimedu in Sabarimala, died at Pampa Hospital on Saturday. The deceased has been identified as Padmasree, daughter of Kumaran and Jayalakshmi, of Salem, Tamil Nadu.