Kochi, Friday, January 13, 2012: The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB),which manages the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala, and State government to ensure that all safety measures and appropriate steps of disaster management are taken during ‘Makaravilakku’ festival at the hill shrine of on January 15.

The authorities should also ensure that adequate provisions for food and drinking water were made available, during the festival when millions of pilgrims from all over the country throng the hill shrine. The directions in this regard were issued by a division bench comprising justice Thothathil B Radhakrishnan and justice CT Ravikumar by initiating suo motu proceedings to evaluate the various steps taken by various departments. It was during the ‘Makaravilakku’ festival on January 14 last year, 102 pilgrims were killed during a stampede at Pullmedu.

Police officials in charge should ensure that force was fully geared up to face issues of ground management, the bench said today. The bench reminded that officers shall personally be responsible in the event of failure.

(News agency)