SABARIMALA: Pilgrims had to wait in jampacked queues for 13 to 14 hours for darsan of Lord Ayyappa on the second day on Sunday. The long queue of pilgrims on the trekking path extended up to Sabaripeedom from Nadapandal, forcing the pilgrims to remain in the queues for about 14 hours. Waiting in jampacked queues for long hours caused much hardships to the pilgrims, especially on the trekking path between Marakottam and Saramkuthi where only one Nadapandal hasbeen set up on the 1-km stretch. Lack of basic facilities at the Nadapandal, including quality toilets, drinking water and resting place, also caused much inconvenience to the pilgrims. Though the Travancore Devaswom Board had assured of basic facilities at the Nadapandal during Makaravilaku season days, hardly any such facilities were provided for the pilgrims. Inadequate number of volunteers for the distribution of medicated drinking water in bottles for the pilgrims who were stranded in queue between Marakoottam and Saramkuthi, caused severe difficulties, especially for the children and the aged.
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