The police have made elaborate security arrangements for the Makaravilakku festival at Sabarimala on January 14, Minister for Home Ramesh Chennithala, said here on Saturday.
The Minister was talking to reporters after reviewing the arrangements being made by various government departments for the Makaravilakku festival at an official meeting at Pampa.
He said 1,500 police personnel would be deployed at Pullumedu where Ayyappa devotees gather on the Makaravilakku day to worship the Makarajyoti and Makaravilakku. The Inspector General of Police IGP (Ernakulam Range) and the District Superintendent of Police in Idukki would be in charge of the police arrangements at Pullumedu.
The Minister said the government had installed 146 Aska lamps at Pullumedu with a view to ensuring sufficient lighting in the interior forest area.
KSRTC services
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) would operate chain services between Kumili and Kozhikkanam. The KSRTC will deploy four mobile workshops on the Pathanamthitta-Pampa stretch of the main trunk route leading to Sabarimala.
The Minister said arrangements would be made to supply food and drinking water to pilgrims, in the event of the police blocking vehicular traffic on the main trunk road passing through the forests as part of crowd management during the Makaravilakku festival.
Additional Director General of Police K. Padmakumar and Manoj Abraham, IGP, would be in charge of the security arrangements at the Sannidhanam and Pampa respectively. Addressing the meeting, Minister for Health V.S. Sivakumar said the Health Department would open an oxygen parlour at Kallidamkunnu on the Erumely-Azhutha-Karimala forest path.
Forest Department to post elephant squad at Pullumedu
Steps to check fleecing of pilgrims by eateries
