With the main base camp ravaged by floods, authorities have a tough task

With just a little over two months left for the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season at Sabarimala, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and the Kerala government are facing unprecedented challenges to a smooth conduct of the 67-day annual event in the post-flood scenario.

The deluge that wreaked havoc at the main base camp of Pampa in the foothills of Sabarimala in mid-August ensured that no pilgrim could reach the holy hillock, crossing the Pampa, during the previous monthly puja period in August.

As things stand, a good number of electric posts have been washed away. Three toilet complexes are destroyed, and the remaining latrine complexes on the Pampa Manalpuram are inundated. The sewer lines, waterlines, septic tanks, and other waste collection tanks are heavily silted. The pump house of the Kerala Water Authority still remains buried under huge deposits of sand.

The Pampa Manalpuram and the bathing ghats, where the pilgrims congregate to have their customary holy dip and offer ‘pitru-tharpanam’ (bali) to ancestral spirits, wear a haunted look with heaps of debris all around.

The Annadana Mandapam and the adjoining hotel complex, too, are damaged. The ground floor of the Government Hospital at Pampa on the eastern bank is full of sand. The TDB godown, too, was inundated, and its substantial stock of jaggery destroyed.

Nilackal base camp

The TDB has decided to make Nilackal, 20 km away from Pampa, the main base camp. Pilgrims will have to park their vehicles there and then proceed to Pampa, and return to Nilackal using the KSRTC circular services.

What’s most worrying is that neither the TDB nor the government has made any preparatory arrangements at the Nilackal base camp for accommodating the huge crowd of pilgrims.The authorities are still to make a realistic assessment of the prevailing situation at Nilackal in the post-flood scenario. They are also yet to make a structural audit of the existing buildings at Pampa Manalpuram. Timely renovation of the Annadana Mandapam and the hotel complex is a major challenge. The Pilgrim Facilitation Centre, inaugurated by the Devaswom Minister at Nilackal, a year ago is still not functional.

The parking of vehicles will prove to be another major issue. Pampa and Chalakkayam used to accommodate as many as 75,000 cars, SUVs, and light motor vehicles. The TDB has to provide parking facility for at least this many additional vehicles at Nilackal.

The TDB godown at Pampa Manalpuram has been designed as per the Hazardous and Critical Care Point, to ensure Healthy Food Standards for stocking jaggery brought for Aravana production at Sabarimala. With the inundation of the godown, it has to be thoroughly cleaned and sanitised before jaggery can be stocked there. Moreover, the stability of the Triveni bridge, too, has to be certified before trucks carrying jaggery can be allowed on it.

Time needed

The rebuilding of the Pampa Manalpuram and the bathing ghats, too, will be a time-consuming affair.

Co-ordination among various government departments and the TDB is another major issue that needs to be addressed tactfully. A senior IAS officer with proven administrative acumen should be posted at Nilackal as the chief co-ordinator.

The sewage pumping lines at Pampa are in a mess right now. The authorities should take immediate steps to install bio-toilets and bio-urinals at Pampa. The authorities have not yet begun to clear the silt accumulated in the waste collection tanks at Pampa Manalpuram and Cheriyanavattom.

The TDB is yet to decide on Annadanam at Pampa and Nilackal. Annadanam at Pampa should be continued or else the pilgrims reaching Pampa via the Eruumeli-Azhutha route could be put into trouble.

The strength of the various departments, especially the police, has to be reviewed. Does Sabarimala need the service of a posse of police for crowd management or is it time to engage the well-trained National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)?

One thing that can be predicted with some certainty is that the ensuing pilgrim season is going to be a tough one for the TDB, the State government and, of course, the pilgrims, too.