Rs 2,000 Sabarimala rooms booked in bulk for resale at over Rs 10,000? Board orders probe

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Devaswom Board will cancel room bookings at Sabarimala’s Devaswom guest houses made by people who are not visiting the shrine for darshan, Board president K. Jayakumar has said. He told the media that a lobby involving middlemen had allegedly planned to make lakhs of rupees through irregularities in the room-booking system. Kerala Kaumudi had reported the issue the previous day.

Action will be taken after the Devaswom Vigilance completes its investigation. The Board has received complaints that agencies, rather than devotees, had booked rooms at Sabarimala. A total of 400 rooms were available for online booking.

The group involving middlemen is suspected of attempting to make lakhs of rupees every day through the scheme. Rooms normally available at rates starting from Rs 2,000 were allegedly booked in bulk, with plans to resell them for more than Rs 10,000.

The Devaswom Board had directed that devotees must use the slip generated through their virtual queue booking to check into a room. It had also instructed officials to modify the software accordingly. However, the software was not updated, creating an opportunity for the alleged irregularities.

The Devaswom Vigilance SP has been asked to investigate how tour companies and other agencies managed to book rooms on such a large scale, along with other aspects of the alleged irregularities.
The booking software will be modified before the Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season. Under the revised system, only those who book their darshan through the virtual queue will be eligible to reserve rooms.