The political row has resulted in reduced pilgrim footfall on the hill shrine and hit trade and business activities around the seasonal pilgrimage. (File photo)

A prolonged scuffle over the recent Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all age groups to enter the Sabarimala temple is threatening to take a toll on Kerala’s Rs 682-crore annual temple revenues and the flood-hit state’s economy at large.

The political row has resulted in reduced pilgrim footfall on the hill shrine and hit trade and business activities around the seasonal pilgrimage. “Fall in hundi income of temples alone would be a huge financial burden for Kerala government, in a situation when the state’s infrastructural has taken a big hit during August’s monsoon deluge,” state finance minister TM Thomas Isaac told FE.

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Besides, there are also the larger inflow of revenues through parking fees, sale of prasadam offerings, commercial activities providing amenities around the temple, transport business etc, that would suffer. This could affect the state’s resource-flexibility in undertaking the post-flood rebuild plan, minister said.

Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), a state government outfit, runs 1,253 temples, of which about 64 are profitable. Sabarimala temple, which sees nearly 5 crore pilgrims during the 41-day season, alone usually garners over Rs 300 crore and funds half of the operational expenses of TDB. The revenue shortage could stress the state coffers. “A rough estimate of the revenue-contributing pilgrims to Sabarimala shrine in the 41-day season include 26% from Andhra Pradesh, 24% to 25% from Tamil Nadu, 24 to 25% from Kerala, 20% from Karnataka and 5% from rest of the country and abroad,” said M Rajagopalan Nair, former chief of TDB.

Pilgrim footfalls have slowed, after the resistance mounted by Hindu organisations to the Supreme Court verdict allowing entry of menstruating age groups to the temple. Attacks on journalist covering Sabarimala, including those on national media, and the violent protests had been building tensions during the pilgrimage season, making devotees think twice about visiting the hill shrine.

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Besides, a campaign is on to squeeze the temple revenues. A video showing BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Suresh Gopi exhorting devotees to avoid contributing to temple hundi, has been doing the rounds. In the first five days of Sabarimala season, the hundi collection in Sabarimala temple is as low as Rs 1.75 lakh. In the previous seasons, hundi collection in Sabarimala temple was often Rs 5 lakh in a single day.