The Kerala government has decided to allow 2,000 pilgrims at Sabarimala Ayyappa temple on weekdays and 3,000 on Saturdays and Sundays during the ongoing pilgrimage. Earlier it was fixed as 1,000 and 2,000 respectively.
No change has been made in the limit of 5,000 pilgrims on special days like Mandala pooja and Makaravilakku.
Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran informed that booking in the virtual queue system (https://sabarimalaonline.org) will be open from Wednesday.
The decision was taken considering the request of the Travancore Devaswom Board that manages the temple as the revenue from the temple suffered a steep fall.
Even as there were proposals to allow up to 5,000 pilgrims daily, some outfits like the Hindu Aikya Vedi have raised concerns over increasing the daily limit of pilgrims, especially since many Covid-19 cases were already reported at the temple.
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