Thiruvananthapuram: Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) decided to discontinue the annual Ayyappa Sangamam event, as part of a series of reforms aimed at making the Sabarimala pilgrimage more transparent and efficient, board president K Jayakumar said on Friday. The board also decided to introduce complete digitalisation of pilgrim services from this season.Jayakumar said Lord Ayyappa did not require any special publicity and therefore the board would no longer organise the programme.As part of the overhaul, online booking will be made mandatory for accommodation at sannidhanam . Of the 690 rooms available, 550 will now be offered through the online system after a detailed review, compared to 190 rooms earlier. Pilgrims will no longer have to pay a security deposit while booking rooms but will need to pay the room rent in advance along with a Rs 50 service charge.The board will also outsource housekeeping services at sannidhanam from this pilgrimage season. An additional 60 rooms will be constructed at Sabari guest house , subject to approvals from the high-power committee and the high court , taking the total number of rooms there to 116.A central control room equipped with AI-enabled cameras will function at the Devaswom Board headquarters for 90 days from Nov 1. AI technology will also be used to establish a crowd management control room at Sannidhanam to help regulate pilgrim movement.With bookings for padipooja ritual already completed up to 2048, the board decided, subject to the thantri’s approval, to conduct up to five padipoojas a day instead of one.The board also announced insurance assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to the families of 54 pilgrims who died during the last pilgrimage season. The amount will be met from the Rs 5 collected along with each virtual queue booking. Discussions will also be held with LIC to introduce an insurance scheme for pilgrims from this season.After the Malayalam month of Karkidakam, the board will undertake deep cleaning of Sannidhanam and surrounding areas through Clean Keralam Company. Individual sponsorship for annadanam (food distribution) will not be accepted.The board will appoint Vasthu Vidya Gurukulam as consultant for construction activities at Sabarimala and deploy a technical quality engineering team to improve facilities at transit points. A new pilgrim pond is also planned at Sannidhanam.Responding to Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society’s claim that the board owed it Rs 6 crore, Jayakumar said the Devaswom Board auditor did not accept the claim in its present form. While acknowledging that certain payments were pending, he said the issue would be examined further before a final decision is taken.
