With less than 24 hours left for the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala to open for the annual Niraputhari festival, the Travancore Devaswom Board officials on Tuesday braved the heavy rains to complete the arrangements for the devotees.
With the Pampa remaining turbulent, a high-level meeting convened by District Collector Divya S. Iyer here on Tuesday decided to ban the pilgrims from entering the river at Pampa-Triveni and in other bathing ghats.
The Collector, as the chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority, also chaired a meeting to review the arrangements for the festival in the wake of the orange alert that was sounded for the district on August 2, 3 and 4.
“ The Niraputhari festival is going to be held at a time when night traveling to high range areas has been banned and hence the pilgrims should be more careful. There is no permission for the devotees to perform the holy dip in Pampa and they will be permitted to trek the hill only through Swami Ayyappan Road. More KSRTC buses and ambulances will be deployed if the situation demands,” the Collector said.
The Sabarimala temple will be opened for the Niraputhari festival on August 3.
