Surveillance cameras for all TDB temples

All temples attached to the Travancore Devaswom Board will be brought under a centralised surveillance system, board president A. Padmakumar has said.

Mr. Padmakumar told reporters here on Monday that surveillance cameras would be installed at all TDB temples and they would be linked to the board headquarters. The TDB had already held consultations with Keltron in this regard, he said.

Mr. Padmakumar said the board was also planning to seek technical assistance from the Central Food Research Institute (CFRI) in Mysuru for prasadom preparation at TDB temples, including the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala. A TDB team led by Mr. Padmakumar and board member K.P. Sankaradas had visited the CFRI laboratory at Mysuru and held discussions with senior officials there a week ago.

N.Vasu, Devaswom Commissioner; V.Sankaran Potti, Chief Engineer; Yatheendran, Deputy Commissioner; and G. Mahesh, chief architect of Pithavadiyan and Partners, the Chennai-based consultants of the Sabarimala master plan, were the other members of the TDB team, he said.

Experts from the CFRI would visit Sabarimala during the five-day monthly puja period in the Malayalam month of Edavom that begins on May 15. The board was planning to prepare the Aravana payasom and Appam at Sabarimala with technical assistance from the CFRI, he said.

Mr. Padmakumar said the board would also explore the possibility of preparing the ‘vazhipadu unniyappam’ at Kottarakkara Maha Ganapathy Temple and the ‘vazhipadu uzhunnuvada’ at the Anjaneya temple at Kaviyur with CFRI assistance.

Devaprasnom

Mr. Padmakumar said the proposed astrological consultation, Ashtamangala Devaprasnom, at Sabarimala would be held from May 17 to 19. The board would hold an astrological consultation in the backdrop of the untoward incidents that occurred during the Arat procession at Sabarimala in March.