Amidst heightened efforts by the authorities to regulate the influx of devotees, the war of words between political parties on the issue continued to rage on Monday.
In view of the raging criticism, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is slated to convene a high-level meeting on Tuesday morning to asses the situation. The meeting, to be held online, will be attended by Devaswom Minister K. Radhakrishnan, the State police Chief, the Chief Secretary, president of the Travancore Devaswom Board, and so on.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Radhakrishnan said that regulating the inflow of pilgrims to Sabarimala beyond a point might not be feasible. “To enable all devotees to pass through the 18 holy steps, some regulations needed to be brought in. The devotees and the media should understand this,” he said.
Lack of amenities
The Opposition, however, refused to be reasoned out and escalated its attack over the alleged inability of the State government to ensure basic amenities for the devotees. Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan accused the State government of committing serious negligence at Sabarimala.
“The officials deployed on duty are not experienced enough to handle such a huge crowd. The Ministers who are responsible to coordinate the event are refusing to perform their duty and are busy touring the State instead,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who visited a Sabarimala stop-over point at Pathanamthitta during the day, too unleashed a scathing attack on the State government for the lack of preparations at Sabarimala.
To ascertain the issues faced by devotees at Sabarimala, a team of leaders from the United Democratic Front (UDF) will visit Pampa on Tuesday, said front convener M.M. Hassan. The team, comprising MLAs Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and Mons Joseph, will hold discussions with the officials concerned.
Cold war
The Bharatiya Janata Party too mounted attack on the government with party State president K. Surendran urging the government to end the alleged cold war between the TDB and the police. “It is unfortunate that the State government is attempting to sabotage a pilgrimage that is bringing crores of rupees in revenue to the State every year,’’ he told media persons in Pathanamthitta.
Later in the day, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha activists took out a protest march at Nilackal against the alleged government apathy towards the Sabarimala pilgrims and clashed with the police.
