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Over 6.5L pilgrims visit Sabarimala; spot booking curbs eased further

PATHANAMTHITTA: The heavy but streamlined inflow of devotees to Sabarimala continues as the mandalam season progresses. Despite rain, devotees had smooth darshan while the valiya nadapandal mostly witnessed a smaller crowd of pilgrims on Sunday. By 7pm on Sunday, 69,295 pilgrims had trekked up the hill shrine. In line with Saturdays directive to speed up the ascent of the 18 holy steps, the flow improved significantly, with around 80-85 pilgrims climbing the steps every minute. On Saturday alone, more than 86,000 people had offered prayers at the temple. With the latest figures, the total footfall has crossed 6.5 lakh since the temple opened for the season. Spot booking has been further eased to ensure more pilgrims receive darshan on time. The High Court had earlier permitted the authorities to revise the daily spot-booking limit based on real-time crowd. Accordingly, the Travancore Devaswom Board and the police are jointly assessing the situation and allowing bookings dynamically. Armbands help track children A safety armband introduced by the police to prevent children from getting lost in the crowd during the Sabarimala pilgrimage is yielding results. The police said all children below the age of 10 are provided the armband at Pampa, with the childs name as well as the mobile number of the accompanying guardian printed on it.