Sabarimala: Concerns grow as police tries to control pilgrim traffic for third day

NEW DELHI: As police tries to control the Sabarimala pilgrim traffic for the third day in a row, concerns are now turning political with the opposition coming forward to criticize the lapses and insufficient arrangements made by the government to ensure a smooth pilgrimage.

Devotees told Republic that it took over 15 hours for some of the pilgrims, including children and senior citizens, to get the glimpse of Lord Dharma Shasta in Sabarimala. Despite the government's efforts, including increasing darshan time by an hour, the increasing number of pilgrims thronging the hill temple had to face a tough situation. "Our vehicle was stopped between Erumely and Nilackal for over four hours. We were supposed to get the darshan on Monday evening, but we could only reach atop the hill 16 hours later," Santhosh Nair, a pilgrim from Thrissur, said.

Several calls received by Republic also suggest that children had to stand in queues for over up to12 hours, with no provision for seating arrangements and(or) refreshments.

Earlier, the High Court had on Saturday directed a special seating arrangement to ensure crowd control. However, reports from the police control room at Pamba stated that it took commuters 14 hours to reach Sannidhanam from Pampa. Meanwhile, pilgrims' vehicles were held up for more than 8 hours at Erumeli, Mukututhara, Kanamela, Naranamthod, Ilavunkal, Laha and Plappally to reduce congestion. The devaswom board had tried to implement the Tirupati model by allowing 20,000 people at a time to trek the hill towards the shrine in regular intervals. "After taking a dip in the river, we were standing in Pamba for four hours," stated a devotee from Tamil Nadu. "We were trapped inside the barricade, unable to move forward or backwards," he added.

Meanwhile, leader of the opposition VD Satheeshan blamed the current situation on the lack of police personnel to deal with the growing crowd, as he stressed that most of them were taken out to be deployed in Pinarayi Vijayan Nava Kerala Sadas Tour. "The CM is on tour while Sabarimala pilgrims are suffering due to their mismanagement," he stated.

Cong-Led UDF Representatives to Visit Sabarimala

The principal opposition in Kerala, the congress-led UDF is mooting to send their representatives to Sabarimala to study the issues and file a report. A team is being constituted which is likely to reach the hill shrine latest by today evening or tomorrow morning.

Police, Devaswom Trade blame

Meanwhile, the Devaswom Board and the state police have blamed each other for a failed virtual queue system. While the police say the reason for the increase in crowd is that the Devaswom Board has allowed virtual queues for a maximum number of people, the reason for the trouble is that the experienced police officers have been completely avoided and the speed of the 18th step has been reduced. "Earlier, at least 70-80 people per minute could be carried on the 18th step, now only 40 people are being carried," sources from the Devaswom board said. The policemen who have recently joined the service reportedly have no previous experience.

BJP lambasts Pinarayi Vijayan

The Sabarimala devotees are not even being provided drinking water properly, BJP state president K Surendran said while speaking to the media in Pathanamthitta. "Resources are being diverted for Nava Kerala Sadas. The Kerala CM is reluctant to send officials and ministers to oversee the arrangements for the pilgrims in Sabarimala. If this state continues, the BJP will be on the streets in protests," Surendran warned.

HC mulls 12-member team to study congestion at Sabarimala 

A legal team will be appointed to study the grievances of the devotees in this regard and assess the facilities for the pilgrims. The Kerala High Court observed that 5,000 to 10,000 people climb the mountain every day without prior booking. The legal team will visit the Queue complex and other resting places and prepare the report. A lawyer who visited Sabarimala had informed the court that there is no facility, including the Queue Complex at the hill shrine. The court has also directed for preparation of food facilities for pilgrims in barricades as well.

Stressing that the current rush in Sabarimala is unprecedented, Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan said: "if we don't push measures to restrict people's movement, there will be bigger problems. "We had accounted for the maximum pilgrims comparing previous years' turnout in Sabarimala, but the current crowd has surpassed that," he added.  

Citing limitations in terms of accommodation, Radhakrishnan said: “media and devotees should understand this limitation which we have”, even as he assured that all efforts are being put in place to avoid any untoward incident in Sabarimala.