‘It feels like god's will; ghee offered by devotees will be used for Aravana from now on,’ says K Jayakumar

PATHANAMTHITTA: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president K Jayakumar said that they will no longer buy ghee from outside in Sabarimala. He said from the coming mandala season onwards, only ghee brought by devotees as offerings will be used to prepare prasadams including Aravana.

Speaking to the media ahead of a board meeting on the irregularities in the supply of Milma ghee, he said, ‘No complaints had been received so far regarding the quality of the ghee supplied by Milma. This happened in the previous season. Even before Milma's internal investigation began, we had decided that there was no need to purchase ghee from outside for this year's Aravana preparation. Devotees bring more than enough ghee to Sabarimala. That is why we took this decision. Now, it feels like it was God's will. It was God who guided us to take such a decision.

Jayakumar added that he is unsure how the quality of the ghee already used could now be verified. Every batch of Milma ghee supplied to Sabarimala was cleared only after testing by the Food Safety Laboratory. No complaints have been raised about its quality so far. I don't know how anyone can now determine whether the ghee that has already been used was substandard. The board would decide after Friday's meeting whether a separate probe from our side is necessary.

Meanwhile, an inquiry by the dairy development department reportedly found irregularities in the supply of Milma ghee to Sabarimala. According to the report, more than 150,000 litres of substandard ghee reached the shrine, causing losses exceeding Rs 85 lakh to Milma. The state government had assigned the devaswom secretary to examine the matter, and he has reportedly recommended that the case be investigated by the crime branch.