Pilgrim footfall count at Sabarimala crosses 15 lakh

PATHANAMTHITTA (Kerala): The number of devotees visiting Sabarimala during the ongoing Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season has crossed 15 lakh, officials said.

According to official data, as of 7 pm on December 3, a total of 14,95,774 pilgrims had reached the hill shrine. With arrivals after 7 pm yet to be added, the total footfall is expected to surpass 15 lakh. Officials added that nearly 15 per cent of pilgrims who had secured virtual-queue bookings did not show up, while the cap on spot booking continues to be limited to 5,000.

Between midnight and 7 pm on Wednesday alone, 66,522 devotees arrived at Sabarimala, reflecting the heavy inflow of pilgrims in the 18 days of the current season, the officials said. Authorities said on Sunday that the crowd situation at Sabrimala is entirely under control and are planning to add the number of virtual queue slots.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA and the Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan on Sunday slammed the CPI(M)-led Kerala government after the party leader and former Travancore Devaswom Board President A Padmakumar was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days in the Sabarimala gold theft case.

Satheesan said that the CPI(M) earlier tried to distance itself from the controversy, but now the court is ‘suspecting’ the Kerala government in the case. “Initially, the CPI(M) Secretary and other members defended that it was only done by Unnikrishnan Potti (prime accused). The opposition insisted that apart from him, other board members appointed by CPI(M) Ministers, responsible for Devaswom, were involved in this gold pilferage,” Satheesan said.

Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused, was reportedly taken into custody by the SIT on October 17. “The HC and police team now found that they are all culprits and are going to jail. The HC directed the SIT they constituted to submit the report only to the HC, not the government, which clears that the court suspects the government also,” the Congress leader added. (ANI)