The Kerala High Court on Wednesday came down sharply on officials over the severe crowd congestion that threw Sabarimala into disarray a day earlier, observing that the situation spiralled “because there was no proper coordination” among the authorities responsible for managing the annual pilgrimage.
A Bench monitoring Sabarimala arrangements noted that the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) had failed to implement earlier directions and questioned why essential preparatory work was not completed well in advance. The judges said many of the works “should have been completed six months ago” before the pilgrimage season began.
The Bench asked the TDB why its previous instructions had not been followed and why such a large number of pilgrims were allowed into the temple precincts at the same time, leading to dangerous congestion.
The court also suggested that dividing devotees into multiple sectors could ease crowd pressure, instead of funnelling everyone forward simultaneously — a practice the judges described as unsafe.
Newly appointed TDB chairman K. Jayakumar, who was present before the court, conceded that the preparations “should indeed have been taken six months ago,” echoing the court’s concerns.
The Sabarimala Ayyappa temple opened on November 17, and nearly two lakh pilgrims arrived within the next 48 hours. The massive influx overwhelmed both the TDB and the police, leading to long queues and serious bottlenecks along the route from Pamba to Sannidhanam.
Television visuals showed tightly packed crowds near the 18 steps, exhausted devotees waiting for hours, children in tears, and some pilgrims climbing over barricades in frustration. Several visitors also complained that they did not receive drinking water while standing in queues for long periods.
The High Court has sought immediate corrective steps to prevent any repeat of Tuesday’s chaos as the pilgrimage season progresses.
