Under fire for Sabarimala crowd management, Kerala CM says ‘handling situation with utmost care’

The lacuna in crowd management came to fore this week after many pilgrims had to wait for hours for “darshan”, even as police stopped thousands of them at different hubs en route the temple. Pilgrims returning after a “darshan” also had to wait at base station Pamba for a long time for conveyance facilities arranged by the state transport department.

The hill shrine has been recording an increased daily footfall of pilgrims since the second week of November with the commencement of the two-month-long annual pilgrimage season. According to the state-run Travancore Devaswom Board (TVB), around 30 per cent of pilgrims this season are either elderly people or children, who require more time to climb the 18 steps leading to the temple’s sanctum sanctorum.

The spellbinding crowds that welcomed GoK in Peermade, Poonjar, Kanjirappally and Pala constituencies as part of the #NavaKeralaSadas inspire us to remain committed to our vision of building a new, thriving Kerala. Let’s march forward together towards a prosperous tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/CxEuqn04QR

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) December 12, 2023

This has contributed to long queues, added the statutory and autonomous body managing nearly 1,200 temples in the southern part of India.
Last week, the temple thus extended the “darshan” timing by an hour, in a bid to curb rush at the temple.

Vijayan, who on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the situation, said that the average number of pilgrims has increased to 80,000 per day this season against 62,000 the previous one. The total daily footfall of pilgrims in the last few days has increased to 1.20 lakh.

He said that such an “unbridled flow of pilgrims would lead to mishaps, beyond our control”. “So, the situation is being controlled with utmost care. Pilgrims are allowed to trek to the shire, after analysing the rush at sannidhanam,” Vijayan said, adding that “no untoward incident has occurred in Sabarimala… but efforts should be made to disseminate correct information about proper measures being put in place to control the crowd”.

New queue system

Last week, TVB introduced a dynamic queue system at the Sabarimala Temple, taking a cue from Tirupati Temple. In this model, pilgrims would be allowed to the temple in batches — in a controlled manner — depending on the rush. The movement of pilgrims from different queue complexes would be regulated from a control room.

Political row

Senior Congress legislator and Opposition leader V D Satheesan said that the state government has failed to ensure required facilities for the pilgrims. The cabinet is under Vijayan and there are no senior officials to coordinate the operation of different departments in Sabarimala. “Several pilgrims stop their journey to the temple mid-day and return home. Such a situation has never happened before in Sabarimala. Women and children have been left to languish in que for 10-20 hours without food and water,” he said.

Senior BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan, meanwhile, said that the government has turned a blind eye towards the pilgrims, who have been facing hardship this season. “It is the constitutional right of a pilgrim to visit Sabarimala. But the government has bucked the responsibility of ensuring basic amenities to the pilgrims. There is a violation of human rights. The government is keen only about the revenue from the temple — offering from the devotees. Several government departments consider the temple and this festival season as a milking cow,” Rajasekharan said.

Reacting to this, Devaswom minister and CPI(M) leader K Radhakrishan said the allegations were politically motivated, keeping in mind the next Lok Sabha elections. “As per court directions, the total number of virtual registration of devotees has been reduced from 80,000 to 60,000 per day, along with spot booking,” he said.