PATHANAMTHITTA: For decades, thousands of vendors, dolly carriers, cooks, cleaners, and other seasonal workers have flocked to the Sabarimala hills. Most of their faces were familiar only for a season, and their origins often unknown. Over the years, some of them came under police radar for using the dense forests as a cover to escape the law.
This season, however, the police at Pampa are armed with a simple but powerful mobile application, using which the officers can now trace every worker at Sannidhanam, Pampa or Nilakkal with just a few taps on their phones. The initiative, called the Pampa Police Sabarimala Workers Data Register App, is quietly transforming how security is managed at one of India's busiest pilgrimage centres.
A digital leap for the hill shrine
The app is the brainchild of Pampa Station House Officer C K Manoj, who envisioned a way to replace the age-old handwritten registers that once recorded worker details in bulky ledgers. Developed by R R Rajesh of the Pathanamthitta Cyber Cell, the project was rolled out under the guidance of Sabarimala Police Chief Coordinator ADGP S Sreejith, as part of a wider plan to modernise the temple town's policing.
Every year, over 60 lakh pilgrims visit Sabarimala, nestled within the dense forests of the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Pathanamthitta district. While the devotees return home after their pilgrimage, thousands of temporary workers stay back for months -- maintaining facilities, carrying pilgrims on dolly chairs, or working in shops and canteens. Over 7,000 workers, including more than 2,000 migrants from other states, are estimated to be employed each season. Yet, until recently, the police had no comprehensive way to know who they were.
"In the past, we have found people involved in crimes in other districts or states who later reached Sabarimala, working under assumed names," says Manoj. Despite the high security, some individuals evading the law still managed to slip in as casual workers. Physical registers kept at Pampa and Sannidhanam were rarely updated in real time, making background checks tedious, he pointed out. To bridge that gap, the Pampa Police launched a digital registration drive in April 2025. Using a Google Form, they began collecting worker information, including photographs, Aadhaar numbers, phone numbers, and details of employers.
A WhatsApp group, named Pampa Police Labour Data Collection Group, was created to bring together shop owners and contractors. QR codes linked to the registration form were pasted in shops and check-posts, and regular inspections at KSRTC depots and forest entry points ensured compliance. By the time the project matured, over 5,200 workers had been digitally registered -- creating Sabarimala's first-ever searchable database of seasonal workers.
From registers to real-time monitoring
The turning point came when Cyber Cell officer Rajesh transformed the collected data into a fully functional mobile application using Google Script. The app allows officers to instantly verify a worker's details using up to ten identifiers -- including name, Aadhaar, or phone number. "The entire system is designed for speed and accuracy," says an officer. "Even during a crowd surge, if someone behaves suspiciously, we can check their background within seconds."
The app has now been installed on every police officer's phone in Pampa. It has also proved invaluable during high-security events such as the President of India's visit, when authorities needed to ensure that every worker in the zone was verified and accounted for. The police are now in the process of verifying police clearance certificates (PCC) for all registered workers. From the 2025-26 season, verified individuals will be issued official ID cards, further tightening the system. The benefits go beyond crime prevention. During emergencies or natural disasters, the digital register helps authorities identify and account for every worker in the area -- crucial in a forest zone where evacuation can be challenging.
