As the number of devotees arriving for pilgrimage at the Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala continued to increase, the Kerala government on Monday, December 12, decided to restrict the maximum number of pilgrims each day to 90,000. It also extended the darshan timings by an hour. The decisions were taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a statement issued by his office said.
Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) chairman K Ananthagopan confirmed the same to reporters. He said that it was decided during the meeting to ensure facilities for smooth darshan by restrictintg entry to 90,000 devotees each day. The total bookings for darshan on the virtual queue system for Monday was 1,19,480, according to a TDB source.
The TDB president said that it was decided in the meeting to modify the darshan timings to 3 am to 1.30 pm in the first half of the day, and 3 pm to 11.30 pm in the second half. Prior to the latest decision, the timings were 3 am to 1 pm and 3 pm to 11 pm. The timings were increased and the numbers were restricted in view of the crowd management issues faced on December 10, he said.
The decision also comes in the wake of a Kerala High Court direction on Sunday. In a special sitting, the court had ordered the district Collector and the district police chief of Pathanamthitta to evolve a crowd management plan when the expected footfall is above 75,000 per day. On Monday, when the issue was again taken up by the high court, a bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and PG Ajithkumar was informed by the state government that necessary arrangements have already been made for crowd management at Nilakkal, Pamba and Sannidhanam.
The court was also told that instead of police patrolling on motorcycles, as suggested by it, it would be done in four-wheelers as the vehicles should have wireless connectivity. The government also told the bench that the crowd was under control despite the heavy rainfall at Sabarimala, and that steps were being taken to ensure that parking of vehicles at Nilakkal was regulated appropriately to enable maximum number of vehicles in all 16 parking areas.
In the high-level meeting on Monday, Chief Minister Pinarayi said the TDB and the Pathanamthitta district administration should take steps to increase the parking facility, the CMO statement said. It also said that similar meetings will now be held once every week during the pilgrimage season.
The 41-day Mandala puja festival, which began on November 17, will conclude on December 27. Thereafter, the temple will be opened again on December 30 for the Makaravilakku pilgrimage, which will end on January 14, 2023. The shrine will be closed on January 20, 2023, concluding the pilgrimage season.