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Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the legislative assembly that the spot booking facility will continue at the Lord Ayyappa temple during the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season. The announcement came while the government was responding to MLA V Joy.
State government to continue spot-booking
Thiruvananthapuram: In a major reversal following backlash from Ayyappa devotees and opposition parties, the Kerala government has revised its decision on implementing the virtual queue system in Sabarimala and continue with spot-booking.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the legislative assembly that the spot booking facility will continue at the Lord Ayyappa temple during the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season. The announcement came while the government was responding to MLA V Joy.
“We welcome the decision by the government as the online booking being made mandatory is not feasible for everyone as it could pose a major challenge for people who are not well versed with online booking knowledge and technology. Everyone need not be able to book accordingly. If crowd management is the issue, the Devaswom should come up with a more robust way to deal where they should allow crowds to enter inside in a controlled and phased manner”, said Subramanian, coordinator of Ayyappa Seva Sangham, Pathanamthitta.
According to the Chief Minister, the review committee has assured a safe and comfortable pilgrimage for all devotees, regardless of pre-booking. Arrangements will be made to accommodate pilgrims without online reservations. In the virtual queue system, pilgrims can book darshan tickets and prasadam online through the official Sabarimala temple website. With spot booking, pilgrims can reserve slots for darshan at designated centres identified by the Devaswom Board.
In 2023, there was a huge rush and the Devaswom board had to fix a daily footfall limit after there were reported lapses in crowd management. There were multiple incidents of elderly devotees becoming unconscious and falling on the ground after standing in the queue for hours together. There were also incidents of police high handedness being reported at Pamba and at Sannidhanam where police had to resort to using force to control the crowd which led to widespread protests from the devotees. There was also an incident where
The Makaravilakku-Mandalam season is set to begin from November 18 and will continue for the next 41 days.
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