Spot booking should not be avoided at Sabarimala: Pandalam Palace

The Mandala Kala Sabarimala pilgrimage in the 1200th year of the Malayalam year will begin on November 17. Sabarimala is a temple where lakhs of people from south India and north India come irrespective of caste and creed. The elderly, the sick, those with mild health issues, children and so on, many people come to see Lord Ayyappa and seek his blessings.

The Travancore Devaswom Board( TDB), which administers the temple, should be exploring how facilities can be provided to the devotees in a temple where different types of people reach. However, the Devaswom Board stopped the spot booking on the advice of someone or because of the confusion over how things should be implemented. It has been informed that only online bookings are available. This will cause a lot of distress to the devotees who come for darshan. Any system should be carefully monitored and studied with patience before 100 per cent implemented. The system that exists now is suitable. Last year, there were some other technical issues. If it is found and fixed, there will be no problem.

The darshan and blessings of Lord Ayyappa are the most important things for a devotee at Sabarimala. The opinion is that online booking should be made 75 per cent and spot booking should be 25 per cent. Only then will it be possible for any kind of people to have darshan of Ayyappa. This time too, the darshan should happen the same way as last year.

Those who give importance to bhakti should be the ones to take such a decision. A decision should be implemented after listening to the opinion of the devotees' collectives instead of taking unilateral decisions. Pandalam Palace has always been with the devotees. We will not accept any decision that will cause mental and physical hardship to the devotees.