Over 500 policemen are expected to arrive at the hill shrine, with a total deployment of around 2,700 personnel for Mandala Puja.
Huge crowd at Sabarimala. (Supplied)
The Kerala police, on Tuesday, 19 December, said that they are gearing up to manage the crowd at Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple during the Mandala Puja on 27 December.
Over 500 policemen are expected to arrive at the hill shrine in the coming days, with a total deployment of around 2,700 personnel for Mandala Puja, an official release said on Tuesday.
As of now, 2,150 personnel from various departments, including police, RRF, Bomb Squad, CRPF, and NDRF, are on duty in and around Sannidhanam.
Additional personnel are stationed in Pampa and Nilakkal. The duty of 750 personnel at Sabarimala concluded on Tuesday, with new officials taking charge.
DIG Rahul R Nair welcomed the incoming personnel at a programme held at Sannidhanam Auditorium, emphasising the need for police to be proactive in handling the increasing rush.
He stressed the importance of treating devotees with the utmost care, urging policemen to adhere to duty timings and ensuring a smooth handover process.
The officer highlighted that 40 percent of Sabarimala’s visitors are women and children, heightening the police’s responsibility.
To manage the pilgrimage crowd effectively, 10 divisions of police personnel have been formed under the leadership of DYSPs, comprising ten DYSPs, 35 inspectors, and 105 Sub-Inspectors and ASIs.
Special Officer KS Sudarshan noted the proactive planning by the police for a potential increased rush in the coming days. Currently, around 4,000 devotees climb the 18 holy steps every hour.
The police said they are committed to ensuring a seamless darshan experience for everyone.
They have appealed to devotees to follow instructions and cooperate fully.
Despite the Kerala government claiming the situation has been under control, devotees of Lord Ayyappa were facing many hardships, forcing the high court to intervene.
Reports said pilgrims to the hill shrine were made to wait in queues for hours — often even half a day — before they could proceed to the 18 gold-covered holy steps to the temple.
An unprecedented rush of devotees during the annual festival season this year has left both authorities on the ground and the pilgrims frustrated. The arrangements made in advance went for a toss as several pilgrims arrived without booking slots on the Virtual Q, an online system initiated to ensure a smooth pilgrimage.
Authorities tried the Tirupati-model crowd management, but failed as several pilgrims jumped the queue, and took forest routes to Sannidhanam.
According to Travancore Devaswom Board’s (TDB) special secretary MG Rajamanickam, more than 1,20,000 pilgrims were trekking the hills daily during the current festival season that began on 1 December.
Three decades ago, hardly 10,000 pilgrims visited the shrine located in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in a day.
Though the government attempted to regulate the crowding at the forest shrine by limiting the Virtual Q booking from 90,000 to 80,000 a day, it failed to create any impact. Extending the temple hours by an hour, too, did not help much.
Pilgrims were now waiting for more than 12 hours to get the darshan at numerous locations between Pampa and Sannidhanam, where the temple is located.
Besides, the virtual booking facility, pilgrims could make spot bookings also. However, the high court on Wednesday, 13 December, directed the government to limit the spot booking to 10,000 people.
Besides, thousands reach the shrine through illegal forest routes.
TDB President S Prasanth had told South First that the temple was now open for almost 17 hours daily. He said extending the operational hours further would be impractical as the priests and employees should have adequate rest.
(With PTI inputs)
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