Pathanamthitta, Thursday, November 24, 2011: Sabarimala temple, the abode of Lord Ayyappa witnessed heavy rush of pilgrims on Thursday, after the hill shrine was opened for over two month long pilgrim season.

Devotees had to wait six to seven hours for the darsan of Lord Ayyappa as the queue to ‘Sannidhanam’ reached up to ‘Marakkoottam’ by this evening. Owing to heavy rush, security personnel’s had to block the way of pilgrims at Pampa at regular intervals.

The heavy rush is making it a tough task for the police and other agencies to manage the crowd and traffic.The police have made elaborate crowd-control arrangements at Sabarimala Sannidhanam in view of heavy rush of pilgrims this year’s Mandala season.

The temple, situated on a hilltop, has been crowded and pilgrims mostly from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh stood in five queues - each extending to over a kilometre - waiting for the temple to open.

With tragedy striking last season, this time the number of security personnel has been increased. A new footpath, a new bridge and a slew of other measures have been taken to decongest the route.

For a smoother and less crowded atmosphere, they have set up blocks en route to the temple to avoid any stampede in case of an excessive rush of devotees. The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation has special counters for the pilgrims and they operate numerous special pilgrim trips to the temple town, around 100 km from Kottayam.

Even though the temple is now open throughout the year, the peak pilgrimage season begins on the first day of the Malayalam month in November and closes on the first day of the Malayalam month in January.

(News agency inputs)