SABARIMALA: Defying the police chief’s order not to block the devotees using ropes, the police blocked the devotees using ropes even though the rush was small. When the rush was low, the pilgrims were allowed to go through the Chandranandan road.
Earlier control was from Pamba to Sanidanam. Now the vehicles are checked at Pamba, Attathodu, Nilackal and stop at Plapilla forests. From Pamba to Sanidanam there was a ten hour wait in the queue. The Devaswom Minister and the Devaswom President were accused of avoiding unwarranted police control. The High Court bench also sought a report. With this the rush subsided.
There were some scuffles yesterday when the police again blocked the devotees. Even those coming with small children were not allowed to pass through Chandranandan Road. Each devotee was entrusted with Sharamkuthi. With this the time taken to reach Sanidanam from Marakootu was more than four hours. After darshan those coming from Neelimala were sent through Swami Ayyappan road. Police did not put any check on Marakootu and Pamban on Monday when one and a half lakh devotees came. However, when 90,000 devotees came yesterday, there were many controls.