With the 41-day Mandalam pilgrim season crossing the halfway mark, the revenue loss at Sabarimala continues to worry the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).
TDB sources told The Hindu on Tuesday that the collection at Sabarimala during the ongoing pilgrim is low compared to that of the previous one.
Senior TDB officials attribute this to the lean pilgrim inflow in the wake of the curbs imposed on pilgrim movement at Sabarimala and surrounding areas.
For the first time in its history, Sabarimala witnessed vehement protests by Sangh Parivar workers following the move by certain woman’s rights activists to visit the Ayyappa temple against the backdrop of the Supreme Court verdict permitting entry for women of all age groups to worship at the temple.
Sangh Parivar call
Police actions at Nilackal and Pampa and the Sangh Parivar call to devotees to discontinue their practice of offering donations to the temple had badly affected the TDB revenue during the annual pilgrim season.
Official sources said the revenue collection at Sabarimala during the first 23 days of the ongoing pilgrim season was ₹48 crore against ₹85 crore during the same period the previous season.
Aravana sales
However, there were signs of Aravana sales picking up, according to the TDB. The board has put the average Aravana sales at 1,30,000 cans a day during the past four days. TDB executive officer D. Sudheeshkumar said the board had 20 lakh cans as buffer stock as on Tuesday. Appam sales though remains sluggish.
The 41-day Mandalam pilgrim season will come to a close with the Mandalapuja on December 27.