Thiruvananthapuram: Devaswom minister K Muraleedharan has publicly expressed his displeasure with Travancore Devaswom Board president, particularly over the timing of renovation works at Sabarimala.The minister said renovation and maintenance works at Sabarimala should ideally be carried out when the temple remains closed. However, some works were undertaken while the temple was open, causing inconvenience to devotees. “If this is the situation now, devotees are naturally concerned about what will happen during the Mandalam season,” Muraleedharan said. He stressed that it was govt’s responsibility to ensure that devotees faced no difficulties at Sabarimala.Govt was closely monitoring the arrangements, he said. The devaswom board’s failure to anticipate such issues amounted to a lapse, the minister added.“Whenever such issues arise, how can the minister remain silent? If anything goes wrong at Sabarimala, it is not the president who will be criticised; the minister and govt will be held accountable,” Muraleedharan said, making his dissatisfaction with the board’s handling of the matter clear.
