Sabarimala revenue touches Rs 156 crore

SABARIMALA: The aggregate revenue earnings of Lord Ayyappa temple during the first 54 days of the Mandalam-Makaravilakku season stood at Rs 155.85 crore.  Talking to newsmen at Sannidhanam Devaswom Guest House on Friday, Travancore Devaswom Board president M Rajagopalan Nair said that the earnings showed an increase of Rs 20 crore over the income during the same period last season. He said that the TDB expects a total income of around Rs 185 crore on completion of this season.The TDB, for the first time, revealed that the aggregate expenses, including pooja ingredients, raw materials for the prasadam and annadanam, devaswom mess, KSEB and KWA bills and wages for temporary and SSS volunteers, would come to around Rs 110 crore during this season. Mullaperiyar, Pulmedu issues hit pilgrim flow:Nair said that the flow of  pilgrims to Sabarimala was affected by Mullaperiyar dam issue. The situation at the check-posts in Walayar, Kumily and Aryankavu has not yet reached normality, hence the thin flow of the pilgrims, Nair said. The ban on KSRTC chain-service to Uppupara also affected the flow of pilgrims from that forest route.TDB to conduct deeparadhana at Ponnambalamedu: Nair said that the TDB would undertake the ritual of deeparadhana on the Makaravilakku day at Ponnambalamedu by sending a santhi there. The TDB could not entrust the task to any tribal community for the purpose as no tribal family lives there at present.The aggrieved parties could approach High Court in this regard, he said.Functioning of temple vazhipadu system to be streamlined from Feb 1: The TDB chief said that the vazhipadu and parasadam distribution system would be streamlined from February 1, to begin with Kottarakara temple devaswom.Computerised ticketing and prasadam in packets would be introduced from February 1, he said. The new system would be introduced in Ambalappuzha, Malayalappuzha, Aranmula and Chengannur temples from March 1, Nair said.