Sabarimala, Tuesday, January 10, 2012: Security has been stepped up at Sabarimala few days ahead of the ‘Makaravilakku’, which marks the finale of the pilgrimage season as the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa continues to witness heavy rush of devotees.

About 2600 police personnel have been deployed around the temple complex and at the base camp Pampa besides installing monitoring devices like scanners, metal detectors and hidden cameras at key localities to facilitate the uninterrupted flow of devotees.

The police have made elaborate crowd-control arrangements at Sabarimala Sannidhanam in view of heavy rush of pilgrims this Makaravilakku festival.

The temple, situated on a hilltop, has been crowded since Monday evening and pilgrims mostly from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh stood in five queues - each extending to over a kilometer - 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.