Progress for pilgrims

Forty-one days of austerity culminating in a journey where you can tread with ease,as the popular hymn promises,even a jungle path filled with pebbles and thorns: the Sabarimala pilgrimage is rather arduous. The number of pilgrims travelling to the holy hill in Kerala has grown exponentially over the years,but most of them,conditioned for a strenuous trek up the hill,seldom complain about the lack of facilities. However,neglect on the part of the government has made the journey particularly punishing for many years; and last week it proved fatal. As the tragedy on Friday,where over 100 people died in a stampede on a narrow path a few kilometres from the shrine,revealed,infrastructure has not been sufficiently developed to keep pace with this surge of pilgrims,nor have security personnel been adequately deployed at the points where crowds are likely to build up. It is a matter of concern that in Pullumedu where about three lakh people gathered to watch Makara Jyothi,the culmination of the festival season,and where the tragedy occurred,only a handful of policemen were present.

This is a problem that plagues most pilgrimage sites in the country: occasional congregation of people for a festival,even if they run into a few hundred thousand,is often considered a temporary problem that requires only short-term solutions. This has been particularly true of Sabarimala,since its location,in the ecologically sensitive Periyar National Park and Tiger Reserve,considerably hobbles infrastructural development around it. But this tragedy should remind the authorities concerned the state government,the Union ministry for environment and forests and the temple board that,instead of each passing the buck to the other,they should come together to chart out a holistic plan,taking into consideration both the pilgrims needs as well as the regions requirements.

Even as a judicial probe has been ordered,authorities would do well to recall the recommendations of a panel that looked into a stampede on the same day in 1999 it advised against the use of the narrow road from Pullumedu by pilgrims until basic facilities were in place as well as speed up the implementation of the Rs 1,500 crore Sabarimala Master Plan. The safety of pilgrims should not be held hostage to institutional delays though. The forest should no longer be a free-for-all for pilgrims. Designate specific routes for them during the pilgrim season,which itself could be extended considering the growing rush of pilgrims from all over south India,and put in place effective crowd-control measures.