With the crowd of pilgrims at Sabarimala going out of control, authorities have decided to increase the darshan timings by 1 hour. The timings are from 3 am to 1.30 pm and from 3 pm to 11.30 pm. 90,000 people can visit daily. 85 people can have darshan in a minute.
The sanctum sanctorum will open half an hour early in the morning. It will be closed half an hour late in the night. Ashtabhishekam offerings will be restricted to 15. At this time only those who make offerings were allowed to visit. From now on, pilgrims will be let through in a single line at this time.
The parking facility at Nilakkal will be increased. 12000 vehicles can be parked now.
The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan in the context of the High Court’s order to increase the darshan time. Devaswom President K. Anantha Gopan, Police Chief Anil Kant, Pathanamthitta District Collector Divya S. Iyer and others participated.
Meanwhile, the darshan queue went on for 12-13 hours yesterday as well. Several children collapsed. The queue was extended till Saramkuthi. Seventy-five thousand pilgrims visited till 7 pm.
Sannidhanam SP Harichandra Naik was transferred to Pamba for failing to control the crowd. Sudarshan, who was in charge of Pamba, is now the Sannidhanam SP.
Police imposed restrictions on vehicles at Pamba, Nilakkal, Laha, Vadasserikara and Pathanamthitta. There was a jam in Ilavunkal to the extent that vehicles could not go either way.
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