The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) is experiencing a never-before downturn in its revenue collection at Sabarimala.There has been a drastic fall in number of pilgrims visiting the hill shrine.
According to reports, there has been a decline of over Rs 7 crore as compared to the revenue last year during this season.A huge decline in the number of ‘malikappurams’ reaching Sabarimala was noted following the strict measures imposed at Sabarimala. This is following the protests at Sannidhanam when the temple was opened for the monthly poojas of Thulam and during Chithira Aatta Visesham.
Earlier, thousands of ‘malikappurams’ had reached the hill shrine on a daily basis. However, only a few of them have reached Sannidhanam during this pilgrimage season.
It has also been hinted that the police measures at Sannidhanam and Nilakkal also resulted in the decline in number of devotees. Pampa coast was completely destroyed in the floods and reconstruction work is ongoing. This has also affected the number of devotees reaching Sabarimala.
The sale of Aravana, the most-sought-after Sabarimala prasadom, was badly affected in the Mandala season.
The TDB could sell only around 2.4 lakh cans of aravana in seven days against the sale of over 10 lakh cans during the same period the previous year, sources said. Similarly, the appam sale during the first seven days was below 50,000 packets. This is against the average daily sale of 60,000 packets during the last pilgrim season.
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