PATHANAMTHITTA,
The Hindu, January 3, 2016
The Hindu, January 3, 2016
The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has decided to
approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking delinking of 500 hectares
of forestland in and around Sabarimala from the Periyar Tiger Reserve
(PTR) for providing foolproof basic pilgrim facilities as recommended by
the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament a decade ago.
Talking to
The Hindu
on Saturday, TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan and member Ajay
Tharayil said they would meet the Prime Minister after the Makaravilakku
festival seeking his help in developing Sabarimala into an
international pilgrimage centre by providing sustainable amenities.
Inadequate facilities
The
TDB leaders said Sabarimala, situated 467 metres above mean sea level,
has been plagued by grossly inadequate basic pilgrim facilities due to
non-availability of space.
Mr. Tharayil said the concept of Sabarimala pilgrimage itself stood for preserving the pristine glory of the sacred grove (
poonkavanam
) and the TDB was for providing basic pilgrim facility there in an
eco-friendly manner. However, frequent intervention and intimidation by
the Forest Department have been posing hurdles on the path of the temple
administrative body’s efforts to ensure proper basic pilgrim facilities
at Sabarimala, he said.
He said the board had only
25 hectares of land, allotted by the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore, in
its possession at Sabarimala. He added that a TDB team would invite Mr.
Modi to visit Sabarimala at the earliest.
Mr.
Tharayil said the PAC visited Sabarimala in 2004, and in 2005 to collect
first-hand information regarding the problems faced by the pilgrim
centre. Chapter II of one of the reports submitted by the PAC has
discussed problems facing the pilgrims on account of the inclusion of
Sabarimala in the PTR. The report has categorically stated that
delinking Sabarimala from the PTR was the only remedial measure to
address the plight of the pilgrims.
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