In response to bad crowd management measures at Sabarimala, a significant number of pilgrims opted to abandon their pilgrimage, unable to complete their journey due to the overwhelming rush. Pilgrims from various regions, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and different parts of Kerala, reportedly chose to return home without visiting the hill shrine.

The escalating crowd situation drove many to conclude their pilgrimage after visiting the Valiya Koyikkal Sree Dharma Sastha Temple in Pandalam, as the crowd at Sabarimala had become uncontrollable, as per reports.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan assured the public that the situation at Sabarimala was under control despite a significant increase in daily footfall. He emphasized that the government machinery had actively intervened in temple matters.

The surge of pilgrims at the pilgrimage site managed by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and the Kerala Police drew criticism as reports indicated a failure in effectively managing the influx, resulting in extended waiting times. Allegations surfaced regarding discrepancies in pilgrim statistics, with the police asserting that the TDB admitted five times more people through spot bookings than before. However, the Board denied these accusations.

The conflict between the two entities escalated alongside the skyrocketing number of pilgrims, leading to severe congestion and frustration among devotees. The situation reached a critical point as pilgrims resorted to jumping over barricades, caused an uncontrollable rush.

As per the reports, the duty officer at Sannidanam failed to provide proper instructions to control the devotees at Pampa proportionate to the rush. Police acknowledged that the number of individuals ascending the Pathinettam Padi (holy 18 steps) had decreased from 75 per minute to 60-65 per minute, attributing this to the higher presence of women and child devotees.

This situation had a cascading effect, with people having to stand for hours in Pampa without being able to progress forward. In response, the police called for the construction of a temporary queue complex in Pampa capable of accommodating 5,000 people to better manage the crowd.

In addition, Inspector General G. Sparjan Kumar suggested reducing the virtual queue booking limit to a maximum of 75,000 to ensure pilgrims could have a smooth darshan. He highlighted the challenges arising when 90,000 pilgrims came through the virtual queue, as not all of them could receive darshan on the same day.

Image source: India Today