Concern over denial of facilities to pilgrims

PATHANAMTHITTA:  The Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sangham (ABASS) has expressed deep anguish at the denial of basic facilities to lakhs of pilgrims who trek the traditional forest route of Erumeli-Azhutha-Karimala for darsan at Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple. Sangham national vice-president D Vijayakumar told ‘Express’ that thousands of pilgrims, who opt for the Azhutha-Karimala forest route to reach Sabarimala during the Mandalam-Makavailaku season, will face acute shortage of basic facilities like drinking water, food items at fair prices and medical assistance, if the present pace of arrangements is any indication. Though the authorities hold review meetings about the arrangements for the pilgrims at Erumeli, the meetings hardly take up the grave problems faced by the pilgrims while trekking the forest path, Vijayakumar said. Spread over the three districts of Kottayam, Idukki and Pathanamthitta, the trekking path from Azhutha to Valiyanavattom has not received the attention of the authorities.  In addition, lack of coordination among the district authorities had led to failure in addressing the problems. Lack of Control Over EDCsThe 700-odd EDCs ( Eco Development Committees), the self-help groups set up by the Forest Department for empowerment of tribal families and settlers on the fringe areas of the forest, which run soft drink shops and hotels on the 35-km forest route,  are fleecing the pilgrims by charging two-to three times above the fixed prices, Vijayakumar said.  Though the large-scale exploitation of pilgrims by the EDCs had been brought to the attention of the authorities hardly any foolproof measure had been taken so far to prevent the fleecing, he said.