SABARIMALA: During the auspicious start of ‘Dhanu month’ on Sunday, a good rush was expected in the holy shrine of Sabarimala. However, the crowd numbers plummeted on this particular day giving respite for devotees from a month-long claustrophobic rush. The beeline queue seen during the past days was reduced to a single line on Sunday. Till 7 pm, 51,638 people visited through virtual queue and spot booking while just 2,104 reached the shrine through Pulmedu.

According to the Devaswom board, the strong rainfall in the mountains might have spoiled the chances of pilgrims to pay a visit to the holy shrine. An orange alert was announced in Pathanamthitta district yesterday. The water level also surged in the Pampa River.

Due to such ferocious rains, the devotees who arrived with children are still taking shelter in Pamba, exploring their chances to climb the mountains at the earliest. At the same time, a large number of pilgrims who had completed their darshan ignored the rain and descended the mountain. 71,912 people returned after completing their darshan on Saturday.

Controversy also erupted after officials stopped pilgrims on the 8th of December to manage the rush. On this day, a total of 88,744 people visited the shrine.

A special queue has been set up at Sopanam area to enable children to have a smooth darshan. The system allows the children who reach the 18th holy step to have darshan through the row right in front of the shrine without going through the flyover.