'Union ministers spreading lies about Sabarimala for petty political needs,' alleges TDB chief

Thiruvananthapuram: Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president A Padmakumar on Wednesday charged Union ministers Alphons Kannanthanam and Pon Radhakrishnan of 'spreading outright lies' to mislead the faithful for 'petty political ends'.

Union Minister for Tourism Alphons Kannanthanam, while inspecting the facilities at Sabarimala on November 19, had said that the temple had no facilities though the Centre had sanctioned Rs 92 crore for Sabarimala. The TDB president said that the minister's claim was completely false. “As part of developing Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, Sabarimala and Aranmula Parthasarathy temple into a spiritual tourism circuit, Sabarimala was sanctioned Rs 6 crore. Of this, 20 per cent or just Rs 1.23 crore had been sanctioned,” Padmakumar said.

As part of another spiritual tourism circuit (Erumely-Sabarimala-Pamba-Sannidhanam circuit), Padmakumar said the Centre claims it had set apart Rs 99.9 crore. “As it stands, only Rs 19.99 crore has been sanctioned,” Padmakumar said. But since it has decided to keep Pamba and Sannidhanam free of major development works, the Board has informed the union Tourism ministry that it wanted the works shifted to Nilakkal. “Discussions were held with the minister but till now we have not received a reply from the Centre. The money, as a result, is still left idle,” the board president said.

Further, he said that the development works at Sabarimala were not carried out by the TDB but by the high-powered committee set up by the High Court. The TDB president also alleged that the Centre had picked the consultant without consulting with the Board or the state government.

The TDB president also expressed surprise at the demand raised by Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan who visited Sabarimala on Wednesday. The minister wanted the police to allow private vehicles to move from Nilakkal to Pamba. “Right from the Supreme Court and the Empowered Committee to the Sabarimala Master Plan have made it clear that vehicle movement should end at Nilakkal. Given this fact, it is intriguing that Pon Radakarishnan came up with such a demand,” Padmakumar said.

Harmful restrictions

The board president, however, hinted that some of the restrictions imposed at Sannidhanam caused problems for the faithful. “We held discussions with the chief minister and the police and the restrictions were eventually eased,” Padmakumar said. During the first four days of the ongoing Mandalakalam season, the police had prohibited devotees from spreading their 'viri' (sleeping cloths) at Valiya Nadappantal that had space for thousands of devotees. There were also restrictions on devotees staying at Sannidhanam for the early morning Neyyabhishekam (ghee offering). These were lifted following the intervention of both the High Court and the TDB.

Truth about Sabarimala infra

The TDB president also said that a misinformation campaign regarding the facilities at Sabarimala had been unleashed. According to him, in spite of the floods, the infrastructure facilities at Sabarimala, Pamba and Nilakkal had vastly improved compared to the last season. For instance, last season Nilakkal had resting places for 2,000 devotees at once.

This year, 6,000 devotees could be accommodated at a time at Nilakkal. Work on resting places for another 3,000 devotees is on, he said. This time Nilakkal has space for the parking of 20,000 vehicles; last time it had space only for 15,000. “Though the toilets in Pamba were completely washed away by the floods, we still managed to have almost the same number of toilets as last year,” Padmakumar said. The total number of rooms in Sabarimala has also gone up from 630 last season to 686 this time. "Even though the floods had wreaked havoc, we have made sure that there were no reduction in the number of toilets, bathrooms, and 'annadanam' counters. Sewage treatment plants, incinerators, and water pipes have also been maintained at last year's level," the TDB president said.

He said there was also a campaign asking devotees to desist from offering money to the temples run by the TDB. "The Board has 1,258 temples under its control, and over 12,000 as staff and pensioners. There should be a realisation that such a move will adversely affect over 12,000 Hindu families," Padmakumar said.

Read more: Latest Kerala news