SABARIMALA: Defying the police chief’s instruction not to block devotees using ropes, the police blocked the devotees using ropes even when the rush was low. When the rush was low, the pilgrims were allowed to go by Chandranandan Road.

Earlier the control was from Pamba to Sanidanam. Now the vehicles are controlled at Pamba, Attathodu, Nilackal and stopped at forests in Plapilla. From Pamba till Sanidanam there were ten hours of waiting in the queue. The Devaswom Minister and Devaswom President complained to avoid unwarranted police control. High Court division bench also asked for a report. With this the rush had come down.

Yesterday when the police again blocked the devotees there were some quarrels. Those who came with small children were also not allowed to go through Chandranandan road. Every devotee was let through Sharamkuthi. With this the time taken to reach Sanidanam from Marakootu took more than four hours. Those who came through Neelimala after darshan were send through Swami Ayyappan road. The police did not put any controls at Marakootu and Pamba on Monday when one and a half lakh devotees came. However, when 90,000 devotees came yesterday, there were many controls.