An atmosphere of chaos was created on Wednesday due to a huge crowd at the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple in Kerala just before the Makaravilakku festival. Makaravilakku is considered to be the most sacred and important festival of the temple, to see which thousands of devotees from all over the country are reaching Sabarimala. There is already a huge crowd of pilgrims in the hilly area. This is how the situation worsened.
In order to control the crowd, the police stopped the vehicles going to Pampa in the town area itself. Angered by this decision, the devotees took to the streets and started protesting. A large number of devotees chanting Sarnam sat in the middle of the road and completely stopped the traffic. Many of these pilgrims had come from neighboring states.
Tense atmosphere created due to stopping pedestrians
The situation became more tense when the police used ropes to stop the pedestrians in Pampa and Nilakkal areas citing excessive crowding. According to local observers, this is the first time in the history of Sabarimala that pilgrims on foot were stopped with ropes at the busy Pettah junction, bringing the entire city to a standstill.
Police issued strict guidelines and instructions
In view of the Makaravilakku festival, the Travancore Devaswom Board and the local police have issued strict guidelines for Wednesday. According to officials, vehicles will be allowed on the Pampa-Nilakkal road only till 10 am on Wednesday, after which all vehicles will be stopped at Nilakkal itself. Apart from this, no pilgrim will be allowed to travel on foot from Pampa to Sannidhanam after 11 am. The administration says that these steps have been taken keeping in mind the safety of the devotees, while the devotees are demanding better management and coordination.
