A large crowd gathered near the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Lower Thirumuttam on Tuesday. | Photo credit: LEJU KAMAL
The Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Seva Sangham, one of the largest organizations of Ayyappa devotees, claimed to have checked with authorities on the need for robust crowd management as the pilgrimage season began.
In light of the huge rush at Sabarimala at the start of the pilgrimage season, they claimed here on Tuesday that the state government was so “busy with damage control related to the gold theft controversy” that it failed to address basic demands at Sabarimala.
Noting that several devotees had reportedly stood in line for more than 10 hours without water or food, the group claimed that they and several other long-standing service organizations were barred from distributing free refreshments and food to pilgrims – a practice they said they had been doing for decades.
“Apart from the sangham, several organizations including Mata Amritanandamayi Math and Subramanya Religious Trust have also been blocked. There are no organizations left to support the pilgrims,” Ayyappa Seva Sangham general secretary D. Vijayakumar said.
According to him, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has “very limited staff and is not equipped to handle such massive crowds”, while the Ayyappa seva sangham has been providing 24-hour free food to devotees, police personnel and Sannidhanam staff for years.
The Sangham also warned that tens of thousands of Telugu-speaking devotees traditionally arrive in large numbers from December 1 to 5.
Published – 18 Nov 2025 21:00 IST
