On Kerala trip, President Droupadi Murmu visits Sabarimala

After washing her feet in the river Pamba, a symbolic purification ritual before trekking to the shrine, she visited a Ganapati temple. Temple priest Vishnu Namboothiri prepared the irumudi kettu (a sacred bundle that has to be carried on the head) for the President, her son-in-law, Ganesh Chandra Hembram, her ADC Saorobh S Nair and personal security officer Vinay Mathur. They then left for Sabarimala in an SUV. They reached the shrine at 11.45 am, where priest Kandararu Mahesh Mohanaru received the President. With the irumudi kettu, the President walked up the 18 steps leading to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. She also visited the Vavarunada and Malikappuram near the main shrine.

Kerala Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan, Devaswom Secretary M G Rajamanikyam, and Travancore Devaswom Board president P S Prasanth were present at the temple. At 12.15 pm, she returned to Pamba, and left for Thiruvananthapuram at 4.15 pm.

Earlier in the day, after the President’s helicopter landed at the Pramadam ground, a video that went viral showed policemen pushing it in an effort to move it.

Pathanamthitta District Collector Prem Krishnan S said there was no security issue. “Earlier, it was planned that the President’s chopper would land at Nilakkal. Later, due to weather conditions, the landing was fixed at Pramadam and concreting was done. The helipads at Pramadam were made ready overnight. We were told to concrete only in the area where the ‘H’ (the designated landing area) is marked. For safety, we covered the entire area with concrete. There was no issue of stability. The chopper landed on fresh concrete a little away from the designated landing area. There is a minor sinking. The pilot wanted our men to push the chopper back to the ‘H’.”

He added, “After the President left for Pamba, our policemen pushed the chopper back to the designated landing area. There was no security issue and the chopper carrying the President took off from the same place in

the evening.”