Row over stone pillars installed at Kerala's Sabarimala Temple; Travancore Devaswom Board to intervene

Thiruvananthapuram: Amidst the chaos at Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple due to the heavy rush of pilgrims, many have raised sharp criticism against the stone pillars installed on either side of the 18 holy steps to set up a foldable roof.

While some sections of devotees criticised that the stone pillars were affecting the view of the temple from the 18 holy steps, the pillars have now proven to be a hindrance in controlling the crowd.

Sources said that the police have taken up the matter with the Travancore Devaswom Board that manages the temple citing that the stone pillars were causing inconvenience to the police personnel in managing the crowd. Hence, the Devaswom authorities have decided to review the pillars.

The foldable roofs are being set up to shield the 18-holy steps from rains especially while performing rituals like 'padi pooja' on the holy steps. A Hyderabad-based firm is setting up the roof as an offering.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu government wrote to the Kerala government urging that necessary steps should be taken to ensure a hassle-free darshan for the thousands of devotees from that state to Sabarimala. The letter was sent in view of the recent chaos at Sabarimala owing to heavy rush of pilgrims.

Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan, who has been camping at Sabarimala over the last two days, reiterated on Thursday that deliberate attempts were being made to exaggerate the inconvenience caused to pilgrims at Sabarimala.