Inter-state Council to be formed for pilgrims

KOTTAYAM: An Inter-state Council will be formed to coordinate the work for providing better facilities for the pilgrimage to the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple during the coming season which begins on November 17.The decision was taken at a meeting held under the leadership of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy with the top officials from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry here on Sunday. The Kerala Government will offer a maximum of five acres of land at Nilackal to other states to set up facilities for the Sabarimala pilgrims. The land will be used for constructing guest houses, dormitories and information centres, Devaswom Minister V S Sivakumar told newsmen after the review meeting. Each state will open a Sabarimala Cell in the Secretariat to coordinate during any eventualities. As part of making the hillshrine clean, the government will launch ‘Clean Sabarimala Campaign’ to make the area garbage-free on November 7. This will be taken up with the support of 3,000 workers from voluntary agencies. The other participatory states have promised to extend their support in this regard, Sivakumar said. The southern states have also agreed to send specialists from their states to treat the pilgrims. They have also agreed to help by supplying medical equipment, Sivakumar said. A safety manual will be brought out which will tell the pilgrims what they should do and what they should not.The manual will be brought out in different languages, he said. The respective states should use their regional transport authorities to ensure that pilgrims are not carried in lorries along with sand and other articles.The meeting also decided to implement the Sabarimala Master Plan costing `180 crore. The other four states have also been asked to make their contributions towards this,he said. High Power Committee chairman and Additional Chief Secretary K Jayakumar made presentation of the Sabarimala Plan. The Chief Minister inaugurated the meeting. Minister Sivakumar gave the presidential address. K M Mani, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Adoor Prakash, Ebrahim Kunju and Jose K Mani MP were present.