SABARIMALA: Devotees will have to wait in the queue for at least eight hours to offer darshan at Sabarimala in the coming days of the Makaravilakku season as the virtual queue booking till January 12 is almost full to the capacity. The online booking facility is for 90,000 devotees per day.
The long-winding queue for darshan being witnessed since the beginning of the Makaravilakku season on Friday continued on Sunday, with the queue path extending up to Marakkoottam. With the rush continuing, the special queue for children, elderly and women too extended up to Saramkuthi, forcing them to wait for at least five to six hours.
“My six-year-old daughter and I had to wait for about 10 hours for darshan,” said Ajithkumar of Pandalam. “The police at Pampa did not allow us to take the Swami Ayyappan Road. Instead, were forced to climb the traditional Neelimala-Appachimedu path,” he said.
Devotees are facing hardships at queue complexes due to the lack of facilities for providing snacks or even biscuits. Currently, the flow of pilgrims at the Holy Steps is not at the desired level of 75 to 80 devotees per minute, but around 50 to 60, increasing the waiting time of devotees in the queue.
Meanwhile, in view of the increased flow of devotees, there has been a demand to extend the time of neyyabhishekam offering by an hour to 11.30 am. It will be a big relief for hundreds of devotees who otherwise will have to wait till 3.30 am the next day for the offering.
Also, the opening of another counter for the sale of neyyabhishekam offerings at the existing devaswom counter at North Nada will help devotees save time.