Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered the Travancore Devaswom Board to limit the daily spot-booking of Sabarimala pilgrims to 5,000, as the hill shrine is experiencing heavy rush.
The bench led by Justices V Raja Vijayaraghavan and KV Jayakumar came down on TDB’s ‘poor planning’ alongside seeking ‘detailed capacity figures for every sector’, The News Minute reported.
Directing TDB to increase provision for drinking water and refreshments, the court ordered authorities to limit number of devotees allowed daily via the Kananapatha (forest) route to no more than 5000.
The court made it clear that frisking and pushing pilgrims disregarding temple’s carrying capacity was a ‘wrong approach’.
The order came after reports of more than two lakh devotees entering the shrine in 48 hours thus overwhelming the management.
Meanwhile, the Opposition called the board’s handling of pilgrims a ‘failure’.