Sabarimala, Nov 20 (IANS) Sabarimala in Kerala continued to witness a massive influx of pilgrims on Thursday, with devotees waiting up to 12 hours for ‘darshan’ despite efforts to regulate entry.

Around 65 pilgrims were seen ascending the holy 18 steps every minute. The Travancore Devaswom Board has now capped daily darshan at 75,000 devotees, following High Court directions issued earlier this week.

Spot booking has been curtailed to 5,000 until Monday, and authorities have been instructed to strictly implement virtual queue booking to manage the surge.

On Tuesday, the first major rush of the Mandala-Makaravilakku season exposed significant shortcomings in crowd management and basic facilities.

More than one lakh pilgrims had arrived in the hill shrine, leading to long queues stretching across kilometres, and complaints regarding drinking water supply, sanitation, and inadequate rest areas.

Though crowd-control measures were attempted, arrangements failed to meet the overwhelming turnout.

Reviewing the situation, the Kerala High Court reprimanded officials for the lack of preparedness, questioning why coordinated planning had not commenced at least six months in advance.

The Court observed that there was no justification for such disarray on just the second day of the pilgrimage season and insisted on tighter adherence to booking protocols.

It further directed that entry through virtual queue booking should be allowed only between six hours before and up to 18 hours after the scheduled darshan time, with no leniency.

On Wednesday, 80,615 devotees had darshan, including nearly 20,000 who entered through spot booking — four times the permitted limit.

This led to unmanaged footfall, causing congestion in key areas, including Sannidhanam and the trekking path.

Pilgrims raised concerns over insufficient drinking water and delays in medical support.

With the Mandala-Makaravilakku season gathering momentum, authorities now face intense pressure to streamline digital booking systems, strengthen ground-level coordination, and prevent any recurrence of Wednesday’s disarray.

The Board has promised immediate corrective actions, while the High Court has warned that compliance will be closely monitored.

A state minister, on condition of anonymity, told IANS that this unprecedented rush of pilgrims was stage-managed by a section to create confusion, and this was done as the state is on the verge of the two-phased local body polls.

“There are multiple points of entry to the temple situated on a hillock, and not all entry points are monitored. Those who wanted to create confusion worked to send pilgrims through unmonitored entry points, and that’s how this massive rush of pilgrims happened,” said the minister who did not wish to be identified.

–IANS

sg/dpb