Sabarimala temple opens today for Mandala season

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sabarimala temple will be open for this year’s mandala pilgrimage season on Sunday. Melsanthi (chief priest) A K Sudheer Namboothiri will open the temple nada in the presence of tantri (head priest) Kandararu Rajeevaru at 5pm on Sunday.
New chief priest for Sabarimala V K Jayaraj Potti and Malikappuram chief priest M N Rajikumar will reach the temple on Sunday evening.
On Monday, the first day of Vrischikam, the new chief priests will lead the rituals at the temples. Devotees will be allowed to visit temple from Monday morning. As per Covid-19 protocol, only 1,000 devotees will be allowed a day.
However, devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran said that more devotees will be allowed in Sabarimala in the later days in proportion to those who have not turned up in the first two days even after registering in the virtual queue.
The decision was taken in the high-level committee meet convened by the minister on Friday. The entry of devotees to the temple for darshan will be completely based on virtual queue registration.
The pilgrims will be allowed only by maintaining social distancing and for the purpose, there would be markings on the floor. For those in the age group between 60 and 65 years, medical certificate is mandatory. In order to ensure that Covid-19 patients are not among the devotees, all the pilgrims should compulsorily carry a Covid-19 negative certificate after testing within 24 hours prior to their trip.
The health department will put up facilities for conducting antigen tests in Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvalla, Chengannur and Kottayam railways stations. There would also be Covid-19 testing kiosks in Nilackal and Pamba. Anyone found to be infected with Covid-19 in the test, including those from other states, will be treated till they turn Covid-19 negative. They will be treated in public or private hospitals, according to their choice.
Treatment facility, including ambulance, has been arranged in Pathanamthitta and Kottayam medical colleges and other private hospitals. Residence facility in Sabarimala will be provided in a limited manner for media and officials from various departments who will not be required to register in the virtual queue. But they will have to produce Covid-19 negative certificate.
As per the high court directive, there will be facility for viri (short stay) for 750 devotees at Nilackal, but there will not be any facility for stay at Pamba and Sannidhanam.
The devotees also need not wear masks while climbing the hill from Pamba, which has been relaxed as per the protocol while undertaking tasks demanding high physical labour.