PATHANAMTHITTA: All devotees visiting Sabarimala during the Mandala-Makaravilakku season should carry their Aadhaar card with them. Facilities for real-time online spot booking will be available at three places of the hill shrine, TDB president P S Prashanthan said on Thursday.
Each pilgrim should carry a copy of his Aadhaar card, to get registered in the darsan list, he told reporters at Pathanamthitta Press Club.
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Indian citizens with foreign passports can use their passports for entry, he said.
About spot booking, the TDB president said that the three entry points have been finalised. The three places–Vandiperiyar-Pulmedu, Erumeli-Sathram, and Pampa- will have spot booking facilities.
In the last Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season, there were three counters at Pampa. However, considering the massive crowd of devotees at Pampa, there will be six counters for spot booking there.
“This time, as many as 70,000 pilgrims will be allowed to enter Sannidhanam through bookings, while 10,000 can enter the hills shrine by registering at the spot booking counters using Aadhaar details. The spot bookings will be ‘real-time online bookings’,” he said.
Earlier, the Guruswami, the leader of a pilgrim group, could register for others in the group under his Aadhaar. However, it will not be allowed this time, and individual ‘Aadhaar’ identification numbers will be made mandatory.
The TDB president also appealed to those devotees who want to change the date of darsan, to cancel their booking to give others an opportunity.
According to the new guidelines, those who do not cancel their darsan date despite a change in their schedule will be unable to rebook during the pilgrimage season.
The Devaswom Board will ensure that each pilgrim who books for darsan will be eligible for an insurance claim of Rs 5 lakh for accident death.
To a query related to Aravana, the TDB president said that an additional 6 lakh containers are being stored and it will be increased to 45 lakh during the peak season.
100 additional staff will be appointed to count the coins received as offerings, he said.
Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar said that the KSRTC online ticketing system along with virtual queue booking for Sabarimala pilgrims have been set up to help Ayyappa devotees.
