Sabarimala Makaravilaku preparations: Spot booking to be limited to 5000

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], January 8 (ANI): As part of the preparations to prevent overcrowding of devotees during the Makaravilaku festival at the Sabarimala temple, it has been decided to limit the spot booking facility at Sannidhanam to 5000 persons per day from tomorrow onwards (Jan 8) to January 15.

The decision has been taken on the basis of the Hon. Kerala High Court’s direction for efficient crowd management during festival seasons at the Sabarimala temple. Bookings through the virtual queue have been fixed on the Devaswom board website as 60,000 on January 12, 50,000 on January 13 and 40,000 on January 14. The devotees are also advised against camping on the hillock. January 14th is the Makara Jyoti day.

It is customary for devotees to wait in Parnasalas from the 10th to see the Jyoti. For this reason, preparations are in progress to avoid the crowd that may arise on Makaravilakku day.

Along with limiting the spot booking, police will conduct an inspection of the devotees at Nilakkal before allowing them to enter Pampa. The police will implement the guidelines to control the cooking and other activities of devotees sitting in the paranasal. Various steps are being taken to ensure security at the various places prepared for Jyoti Darshan.

The Thiruvabharnam procession will leave for Sabarimala at 1 pm on the 12th from the Valiya Koyikkal Temple in Pandalam after the darshan of devotees and various ceremonies. After reaching various temples, they will have darshan facilities and then rest at the Ayiroor Puthiyakavu temple at 9:30 pm. The procession, which will leave at 3 am on the 13th, will rest at 9 pm in Laha.

On the 14th, the day of Makaravilaku, it will leave Laha and reach Sabaripeetha at 4 pm via Pandithavalam, Cherianavattom, Neelimala, and Apachimedu. Then it will be received at the Sannidhanam at 5:30 pm via Saramkuthi. The police are making necessary arrangements to ensure the safety of the pilgrims on the procession routes.

The huge increase in the number of pilgrims is evidence of the success of police preparations and in ensuring smooth and safe darshan. A record 39,02,610 Ayyappa devotees visited the shrine from November 15, when the pilgrimage began, to January 5 this year. Last year, 35,12,691 devotees visited during the same period. From December 30, when the Makaravilaku season began, until Monday, 6,22,849 people visited the shrine, as reported by the state police media centre.