Over one lakh devotees thronged the Sabrimala Temple in Kerala on Monday as it received record bookings.
According to reports, as many as 1,07,260 devotees booked darshan timings for today and considering the tremendous football, elaborate security arrangements were made.
Sabrimala Special Officer Harishchandra Naik said, “Devotees will be escorted from Pampa to Sannidhanam in a controlled and segmented manner. Police officers have been deployed at each point for this purpose. The segment rotation is a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident due to the crowding of devotees. Devotees waiting in the queue will be provided light food and drinking water. Apart from the police, the services of RAF and NDRF personnel will also be used to control the traffic.”
Due to the tremendous footfall, the darshan timing was also extended by an hour.
Moreover, around 77,216 devotees booked for the temple darshan through online on December 13 and 64,617 on December 14.
Last Saturday, around 60,000 people visited Sabarimala till 5 pm.
The states Devaswom Department Minister K Radhakrishnan said, “2,61,874 pilgrims have visited Sabarimala in the first six days of this pilgrim season. There are indications that the number of devotees will increase in the coming days.”
It may be mentioned that the Lord Ayappa Temple at Sabrimala opened on November 17 for devotes for the yearly Mandalam-Makaravilakku festivals.
