THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Shekhar Kuriakose, Member Secretary of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), said that a safety walk was conducted at Sabarimala before the season the deficiencies were resolved. This is done every year. Under the leadership of the district collector, officials of various departments have gone to every place to check the problems and according to the report given to the government, each department has resolved the deficiencies.

Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) have been set up at Sannidhanam, Pampa and Nilakkal under the leadership of Disaster Management Authority. This system has been implemented since 12 years ago. This is how the revenue authorities get the information about how many people have come. In case of an emergency, the information is passed on to the revenue authorities including the collectorate who manage the entire matter through the EOC.

Apart from this, two NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) teams of 26 personnel each have been deployed. One is presence and the other is cessation. The responsibility of controlling the crowd at Sabarimala is solely with the police. The Disaster Management Authority has nothing to do with it. He said that the objectives of the authority are to reduce the impact of disasters, mitigate loss of life and economic losses, provide assistance to disaster victims and coordinate rehabilitation activities.