Kottayam: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that there was no fund crunch when it came to arrangements in Sabarimala. He was speaking at the Nava Kerala Sadas programme in Kottayam on Wednesday. "The influx of devotees after December 4 led to the current rush at Sabarimala. We have given instructions to ensure that all crowd management efforts are coordinated in an integrated fashion.," the chief minister said. He added that over Rs 220 crore was spent for the development of the pilgrimage centre in the past 7 years.

 A review meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the wake of the heavy influx of pilgrims at the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala decided to reduce the daily virtual queue booking from 90,000 to 80,000 and limit spot booking to meet essential requirements.

"In the first 19 days of the mandala season, the average number of pilgrims arriving per day was 62,000. Since December 6, the rush has increased. On December 7, 1.02 lakh pilgrims arrived. This caused a heavy rush. More police personnel have been deployed this time as compared to the previous year. Now, there are over 400 policemen each in Nilakkal and Pampa and more than 1,000 at sannidhanam,” Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan said.

Some of the key decisions taken at the Chief Minister's meeting include:

• The change of duty of the policemen should not be done in one go but should be done by retaining a few people.
• Volunteers should be found from agencies.
• More people have been deployed to distribute water and biscuits in the queue complex.
• The board will appoint more people for toll collection.
• The arrangements and facilities should be communicated to the people promptly.
• Should be alert about the spread of false news and people should be informed of the reality and facts.
• Cleanliness should be ensured on the pilgrimage routes.
• There should be more bus services on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

What happened yesterday?
Erumeli

• Police stopped pilgrim vehicles from going to Pampa from 1 am to 8 am.
• The pilgrims blocked the road on Tuesday as well. They even stopped the police jeeps.
• 20 vehicles were allowed to pass through Mukkuttuthara-Kanamala route in half an hour each and 20 vehicles were allowed to pass through Erumeli via Mukkada, Edamon, and Athikayam in 10 minutes each.
• Small vehicles were diverted to Pampa via Mukkada, Edaman, and Athikayam.

Nilakkal

• The pilgrims had to wait for 3-5 hours on the way at various places.
• The police stopped vehicles for more than 10 km on the Ilavunkal-Plapally and Ilavunkal-Kanamala roads.
• Pilgrims were unable to get out of their vehicles due to worm infestation due to the rain in the afternoon.
• The pilgrims were worried that blocking vehicles in the forest area where there was no light at night would lead to the threat from wild animals.
• There were competitively less Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses on Tuesday for pilgrims arriving at Nilakkal to go to Pampa. Hence, the existing buses were packed with pilgrims and taken to Pampa.

Pampa

• The pilgrims who reached Pamba at 7 am could not climb to the shrine even after 3 pm.
• The Pampa pandal was stacked with pilgrims.
• Several altercations between the police, security personnel, and the pilgrims.
• The pilgrims complained that the security personnel were behaving rudely.

Sabarimala

• Though the heavy rush experienced in the last four days at Sannidanam subsided a bit, many had to wait for up to 8 hours to have darshan.
• The police were more vigilant in allowing pilgrims to climb the eighteen steps. When top officials were present, 65-70 people climbed the holy 18 steps per minute. However, it decreased when women and children arrived.
• When nada opened at 3 am yesterday, the queue up to Sabaripeedam stretched for 2.5 km. The pilgrims were then stopped at Pampa Manappuram.
• By 11 am, the line to climb the shrine stretched up to the Q Complex in Marakoottam. It took 3 hours to cover 2 km from here to the Nadapanthal.
• It took at least three-and-a-half hours to reach the eighteen steps from the valiya nadappanthal.