Ayyappa’s abode has no system in place to tackle pilgrim inflow

Sabarimala, the abode of Lord Ayyappa, is yet to have a crowd management system in place, despite the hill temple...

Sabarimala, the abode of Lord Ayyappa, is yet to have a crowd management system in place, despite the hill temple being visited by crores of people. Last pilgrim season, 3.5 crore people visited the shrine.

During heavy rush of pilgrims, the authorities restrict the flow of people. On several occasions in the past, the piecemeal approach had gone haywire with the queue for darshan remaining static for as long as seven hours.

The temple is under Travancore Devaswom Board. Its president C K Gupthan said the Board has several constraints to implement a comprehensive crowd management system. “The TDB does not have complete control over the temple premises. It owns a small portion of land, the rest comes under the Forest Department. Every year, the turnout breaks past records. If no stampede has been reported in the recent past, it’s because of the grace of Lord Ayyappa,” he said. The worst stampede witnessed here was the one in 1998 when 53 pilgrims were killed.