The Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom (ABASS) has called upon Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to take immediate steps to begin preparations for the smooth conduct of the forthcoming Sabarimala pilgrim season.
Talking to The Hindu , the ABASS national vice-president, D. Vijayakumar, said it was futile for the government to expect the High Power Committee (HPC) to execute various pilgrim amenity schemes envisaged in the Sabarimala Master Plan in a time-bound manner. Though the much-publicised work on the Valiya Nadappanthal was tendered by the HPC three years ago, the project still remains a non-starter for reasons best known to the authorities concerned, he alleged.
Base camps
With four months left for the annual pilgrim season, neither the State government nor the HPC have taken any effective step to improve basic pilgrim facilities at Sabarimala as well as at the various major base camps of the pilgrims.
However, the Works Department of the Travancore Devaswom Board appears to be firm on its commitment to complete all the 13 queue complexes on the Sabarimala path before the beginning of the pilgrim season.
Mr. Velayudhan Nair, Sanghom general secretary, said the government should give top priority for provision of fool-proof basic pilgrim facility at Sabarimala and at the major base camps of Pampa, Nilackal, Pandalam, Erumely, and Karimala.
Revenue collection
Mr. Nair said the government earned a hefty revenue collection of approximately Rs.2,000 crore by way of taxes during the two-month long Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season.
The government and the TDB, therefore, were bound to ensure fool-proof basic facilities at the pilgrim centres.
Mr Vijayakumar accused the HPC of delaying the execution of various major pilgrim amenity projects.
He said the HPC, chaired by former Chief Secretary K. Jayakumar, should show due commitment to the job it had undertaken at the pilgrim centre.
The ABASS vice-president and secretary also called upon the Chief Minister to convene a high-level meeting of the devaswom ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puduchery, and Karnataka soon for making appropriate inter-State arrangements for a smooth pilgrimage.
KSRTC operations
Mr. Vijayakumar said the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) had failed to post a station master at the Chengannur railway station during the five-day monthly puja period at Sabarimala, causing much hardship to the scores of pilgrims reaching there from different parts of the country.
He said the matter had already been taken up with the Chief Traffic Manager of the corporation.
Mr. Vijayakumar said the KSRTC used to operate 20 to 30 services a day to Pampa from Chengannur railway station during the monthly puja period.
Work on Valiya Nadappanthal yet to begin: ABASS
‘State government or HPC has not
taken steps’
