Sabarimala temple witnesses huge footfall; devotees brave 14-hour queues for darshans
The Sabarimala temple is witnessing a large number of devotees and the police find it difficult to manage the crowd. The devotees wait for 14 hours in queues to get the darshan of Lord Ayyappa.
FollowPathanamthitta: The police struggle to manage the huge footfall of devotees at Sabarimala Ayyappa temple has not yet found a solution. The devotees receive Ayyappa darshans after standing in queues for over 14 hours. The complaint made by the devotees is that there is a lack of facilities in the queue complex. A cold war exists between the police and the Devaswom Board to control the crowd.
Also read: Kerala: Sabarimala implements successful Tirupati model queue to manage flow of devotees
The devotees claim that the Tirupati Model queue is quite difficult for them. The Devaswom Board, however, feels that fewer people are reaching the 'pathinettam padi' (18 steps), which is the main cause of the problem.
Spot booking must end, according to the authorities, and pilgrims must be under control. The announcement that the virtual queue limit had been extended to 80,000 was made while the disagreement persisted, but it was never put into effect. Vehicles are free to drive off the Erumeli-Nilackal highway in a controlled manner.
Earlier, pilgrims began to break fences and take shortcuts through forest paths, making the queuing system useless as police struggled to manage the crowd waiting in long lines to receive a darshan of Lord Ayyappa. The Board's dynamic queuing system, which has become fully operational at the Marakuttam queue complex, has greatly assisted in controlling the influx of devotees.
In case of several medical emergencies, authorities at Sannidhanam also sent out an additional ambulance. In Appachimedu, a 12-year-old girl passed away at Pampa Hospital an hour after collapsing while awaiting darshan at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday. According to the doctors, the kid had a cardiac condition.
