Arrangements not complete; Sabarimala sadya will be delayed

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The serving of sadhya at Sabarimala will be delayed. The reason for the delay is that the arrangements for the annadanam have not been completed. A special committee has been appointed to study the legal issues. A decision will be taken only after receiving the committee's report. The final decision will be taken in the Devaswom Board meeting to be held on the 5th of this month.

Travancore Devaswom Board President K Jayakumar had announced that Sadhya will be served at Sabarimala from tomorrow. The Sadhya will consist of at least seven dishes including rice, parippu, sambar, aviyal, pickle, thoran, pappadam and payasam. It was announced that the Sadhya, which will start at 12 noon, will continue till 3 pm and that steel plates and steel glasses will be used. He said that the Sadhya will be served to the devotees as part of a new approach and that this will send a message that every devotee who comes to Sabarimala is considered.

Information had come earlier that two other board members disagreed with Jayakumar's announcement. The president unilaterally informed the media about this before discussing the issue in the board meeting, which angered the members. There are indications that CPM member PD Santosh Kumar and CPI representative and former minister K Raju also informed about this in the meeting held the other day. It is also learned that Raju conveyed his dissatisfaction with the president's action to the party leadership.