Angry pilgrims at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala faced frustration as they waited for more than 12 hours in queues, leading to complaints of uneasiness, especially among the elderly and children. The decision to restrict virtual queue bookings to 80,000 per day failed to alleviate the congestion, with devotees from various states enduring the long wait for darshan. One pilgrim expressed discontent, stating, “I spent five hours on the road to the temple when they blocked the traffic. Now, I am waiting in the queue to have darshan for 14 hours.” Tragically, a girl collapsed and died while waiting in the queue, prompting the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to reinstate the special access queue for the elderly and children.
Despite a court order to restore the queue system, no action had been taken until a day after the child’s death. Following TDB’s decision to reinstate the special queue, Queue 9 was opened exclusively for the elderly, children, and differently-abled pilgrims. Special seating arrangements were provided as directed by the devaswom board, but reports indicated that the special queue system was violated, with pilgrims of all ages and health conditions found waiting. The temple, overwhelmed with crowds, continues to pose challenges for both the Devaswom and the police in managing the rush, despite previous efforts to reduce waiting times in special queues.
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